Statement from Donata Hopfen following the conference of the German federal and state governments

24 January 2022 – Regarding today’s resolution following the conference of the German Chancellor and the heads of the German state governments on subjects including large events, Donata Hopfen, Speaker of the Executive Committee of the DFL and DFL CEO, made the following statement:

“It goes without saying that containing the pandemic and protecting the health system take priority, especially in the face of the omicron wave. Nonetheless, in the interests of professional sport as a whole, it would have been important to find an agreement upon an approach to the admission of fans, one that is based on the respective pandemic situation. This would at least have given clubs and leagues a degree of planning certainty and prospects in what is for them, too, a challenging situation. Detailed, tried-and-tested concepts for admitting spectators have been in place for some time. Thanks to the systematic implementation of comprehensive hygiene concepts, professional sport in Germany has demonstrated that clubs and fans are capable of fulfilling their responsibility. In particular, it is also incomprehensible that, at the current time, professional sport is in many respects objectively worse off than other areas of life. We expect detailed solutions to be in place by 9 February – and we are happy to assist in designing them.”