Third division team 1. FC Saarbrücken in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup – a football fairy tale that received worldwide attention and brought the club from the smallest federal state the greatest sympathy. So far. Because the cancellation of the league game against Rot-Weiss Essen, which was supposed to be played on Easter Saturday in the Ludwigsparkstadion, is causing huge anger.
Accusations after the game against Essen was canceled: Advantages for FCS against Kaiserslautern?
“Due to the still unclear venue, Rot-Weiss Essen is suspending advance sales for the away game against 1. FC Saarbrücken,” RWE initially announced quite matter-of-factly. Coach Christoph Dabrowski, on the other hand, didn’t turn his heart into a murder pit.
“It is of course also a distortion of competition from Kaiserslautern’s point of view. They play in the relegation battle at the weekend and then have the game of life three days later,” said Dabrowski, who also identified disadvantages for his own team: “Saturday we would have actually gone to Saarbrücken, who would have had the highlight in mind. With an intense, aggressive performance you would have had good opportunities.”
DFB threatens 1. FC Saarbrücken with home games abroad
Ticket trouble. Distortion of competition. There are also discussions in various fan forums that the Saarlanders only got this far because of the “stumbling block”. Friends of the cup scare, who seems so friendly, are also abandoning the flag – especially after the clear statements from the German Football Association (DFB).
“We were forced to act,” said Manuel Hartmann, the responsible managing director of game operations at DFB GmbH & Co. KG. The DFB confirmed that the state capital, as the owner of the stadium, was at least trying to “get the pitch into a playable condition by taking extensive measures”. At the same time, the DFB announced with rare sharpness that “upcoming home games of 1. FC Saarbrücken could be moved to another stadium” “in order to protect the integrity of the competitions and adhere to the planned calendar”.
Did the DFB repeatedly ask the FCS to name an alternative stadium?
Although the FCS, as a now established third division team, did not have to specify an alternative stadium in the licensing process, before the current grass problems after the cancellation of the first quarter-final against Borussia Mönchengladbach, the DFB had asked the FCS several times to do so, according to SZ information. “1. FC Saarbrücken was asked by the DFB at the beginning of March to announce an alternative stadium in such a case. This was not possible for the game on March 30th,” said the DFB and postponed the game against Essen to April 24th. The clubs were simply informed. The venue is still open and should be “announced as quickly as possible, at the latest in the week after the DFB Cup game”.
The FCS is even threatened with “incapacitation”. The DFB can decide on a different venue over the head of a club. “Yes, he could,” explained Jochen Breideband from the DFB’s Communication, Sustainability & Fans Directorate: “But we would like to clarify this in partnership.”
No mileage limit for the venue
The basis for the 3rd league is, among other things, paragraph 7, number 7 of the implementing regulations for the DFB playing regulations. This states that the DFB game management can decide to host the game on a neutral pitch if a reported field was repeatedly unplayable.
There is no mileage limit when selecting a venue. This means: It doesn’t have to be Elversberg, Wiesbaden or Mainz, it could theoretically also be Dresden, Duisburg or Frankfurt. One thing is certain: the costs for such a move are borne by the club that has home advantage.
1. FC Saarbrücken: “We weren’t idle”
At the FCS, the reaction to the DFB’s presentation sounds completely different. “We were not idle,” FCS spokesman Peter Müller even contradicts: “All stadiums suitable for the third division within a radius of 250 kilometers were queried. There was no willingness to play a risky game, especially with a view to the encounter against Essen. We communicated this to the DFB before the decision to cancel the game against RWE.”
There is now clarity for the rest of the season, says Müller: “We have complied with the DFB’s requirement to provide an alternative venue for all remaining home games of the current season. We have now found enough alternatives in the above-mentioned area so that nothing stands in the way of a regulated event within the framework of the DFB playing regulations. We will announce the date of the respective fixtures in good time. We will seriously discuss the demonstrably incurred costs in regular discussions with the city.”
2024-04-04 00:24:27
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