The authorities in Naples apparently did not want to see such images repeated by Frankfurt fans from the first leg.
Photo: imago/Joaquim Ferreira
They really tried hard again, the Eintracht Frankfurt fans. When goalkeeper Kevin Trapp ran onto the pitch to warm up at the weekend, the huge poster beamed at him. “Victory in Napoli!” the supporters had immortalized it in curved script. But after the 2-0 defeat in the first leg of the last sixteen against SSC Napoli in the Champions League, a 1-0 win like in 1994 in the Uefa Cup when curly head Ralf Falkenmayer scored for Eintracht doesn’t help this time.
However, coach Oliver Glasner has not given up hope for the second leg this Wednesday with the undisputed leaders of Serie A. He swore his ensemble behind opaque tarpaulins in Frankfurt’s city forest to perhaps the greatest feat of recent European Cup history. The 48-year-old used gallows humor because it was not known whether his entourage would actually be allowed to enter the country: “We also have a few with German passports with us.” To understand the joke, you had to know that the last ones The days had been marked by back and forth whether German or especially Frankfurt fans were allowed to enter the venue named after Diego Armando Maradona or not.
The posse ended Eintracht annoyed on Monday itself and declared the voluntary waiver of the usual 2700 guest tickets. Club legal advisor Philipp Reschke etched: “We don’t want to expose anyone on site to the obvious danger of official arbitrariness, as we are experiencing in an unprecedented form with all those responsible in Naples.” The ban on ticket sales for people residing all over Germany is illegal because it is disproportionate. On Sunday, the Prefecture of Naples then decided not to sell tickets to people residing in Frankfurt am Main.
Reschke also described the new decree as “completely unsuitable because two thirds of our fans come from the Rhine-Main region and not from Frankfurt. But we will not allow ourselves to be split up into postal code areas.” There were also major organizational problems: charter flights and overnight stays cannot be canceled or rebooked within a few hours. Such away trips are planned well in advance by fans, especially since most take vacations for them. Even Bernd Neuendorf, President of the German Football Association, intervened: “I find it problematic when stories like this break out.”
In Italy, such bans are quite common. They have not even been interpreted politically for two decades. But in Germany it’s different. Frankfurt’s fan representative Dario Minden explained: “Many in the football business probably don’t yet understand the scope of what Naples is pulling off Eintracht Frankfurt. That endangers the whole European away culture if it’s so easy to exclude guest fans.” His fear: “Ultimately all the magic of the European Cup goes to the dogs.”
It was known immediately after the draw that there could be conflicts between the two fan camps. Both clubs could have agreed in dialogue with their security authorities not to allow fans to travel with them, but did not do so. Three weeks ago, serious riots broke out in the Main metropolis. The new decree is a desperate and controversial attempt to prevent Eintracht supporters from traveling to the Campania region.
The fan representative Minden, who is rooted in the ultra scene, suspects that Naples will not become safer as a result of the measure. “The safest thing is always to have people in a guest block. Whether you find that good or bad: Realistically, despite all efforts, Naples will not become a Frankfurt-free zone.« Many Eintracht fans would finally start their long-booked trip that way. Reschke is therefore not expecting anything good: “I wouldn’t advise anyone to go there. And those who are there shouldn’t be too conspicuous.« Naples is »a complicated place, to put it very carefully«.
Meanwhile, the safety precautions in the city on Mount Vesuvius are being reinforced. Passengers from Germany should be particularly monitored at the airport. It’s also true that among the thousands of visiting fans from Frankfurt, it’s often not just a handful of troublemakers who ride along. In Italy, the 10,000 fans who turned up for a Europa League game in Rome in 2018 are remembered with horror. Since then, the riots around the beautiful Piazza del Popolo have been referred to as “devastazione” – the devastation.
Tracer ammunition flew through Inter Milan’s San Siro stadium in 2019. Even at home, the Frankfurt Ultras fell out of character when, for example, they staged a pitch attack against West Ham United after the Europa League semifinals, which Aleksander Ceferin experienced live as President of Europe’s football association Uefa. Nevertheless, the club only received suspended sentences at home. It’s different away from home: Eintracht had to play games in Liège and London without fans – at the behest of Uefa. The fact that a city is now closing the guest block in a one-two with the club truly has a new, political dimension.
