Frankfurt/Munich (dpa/lby) - The German Football Association (DFB) registered an increase in the number of game abandonments in amateur football for the first time in the past season. In the 2021/22 season, the referees had to cancel 911 games, the DFB announced on Wednesday. More than ever in one season. The ratio, which has remained stable over the past few years, rose from 0.05 to 0.075 percent.
In Bavaria, on the other hand, the numbers remain at a constantly low level and are below the average, as the German Press Agency found out when asked by the Bavarian Football Association (BFV). In the 2021/22 season, 68 games were canceled across Bavaria. That is 0.033 percent of all games. “Fortunately, we cannot confirm the very unpleasant trend across Germany in terms of game abandonment in Bavaria,” said BFV President Christoph Kern.
"For the first time we have noticed an increase in game abandonments, although we are still in the per thousand range," said DFB Vice President Ronny Zimmermann about the nationwide figures. The rate of 0.075 percent means that on average every 1339th game was abandoned. Since 2014/15, the DFB has been producing a situational picture of the amateur sector.
For BFV boss Kern, "every game that is stopped is one too many". It is clear that the association in Bavaria will continue to follow a "strict zero-tolerance policy". According to Kern, that means: "Violence, insults and discrimination of any kind have no place on our football pitches!"
In the past season, 1,219,397 matches in amateur football were recorded nationwide via online match report sheets and evaluated by the DFB. In the games recorded, 5,582 incidents, of which 3,544 were acts of violence and 2,389 were discrimination, were reported by the referees. "These incidents remain relatively constant compared to previous years, but abandoned games are at an all-time high," said Zimmermann.
Physical attacks, such as hitting, kicking or spitting, are considered acts of violence. Discrimination occurs when a person or group is violated in dignity by a derogatory statement, gesture or action in relation to skin colour, language, origin, religion, sexual identity, gender or age.
