Stadiums hollowed by amateur participation in the DFB Cup
In the ongoing DFB Cup, many fifth-tier amateur clubs are facing difficulties due to stringent stadium requirements. These issues mainly revolve around infrastructure standards that smaller clubs often fail to meet.
Eintracht Norderstedt, a regional league club, is one of those clubs that won't be playing at their home ground, the Edmund-Plambeck-Stadion, due to a lack of necessary facilities. Instead, their match against FC St. Pauli will be held at the Millerntor, about 20 kilometers away.
FK Pirmasens, on the other hand, is the only club playing their cup match at their actual home stadium, with their game against Hamburger SV sold out for weeks and seating 10,000 spectators.
Infrastructure standards that cause problems for these clubs include minimum stadium capacity and seating arrangements, security infrastructure and crowd control, pitch quality and facilities for players and officials, adequate lighting and media facilities, and compliance with regulations on emergency access and barriers.
Amateur clubs at the fifth tier typically have smaller, less developed stadiums that do not fulfill these DFB Cup criteria, forcing them to host matches at alternative venues or upgrade their facilities significantly. This can be costly and logistically challenging.
SV Hemelingen, for example, is moving their DFB Cup debut game to the Weser Stadium due to a pitch problem, as the pitch in Verden is four meters too short. SV Atlas Delmenhorst and RSV Eintracht 1949 from Stahnsdorf are also playing their games at different stadiums, not their home grounds, due to similar infrastructure issues.
FV Engers, another fifth-tier club, played against Arminia Bielefeld in Koblenz, not in their home town, for the same reasons. The fifth-tier club RSV Eintracht is expecting net revenues of around 100,000 euros from the DFB Cup, a significant boost for their budget.
The German Football Association (DFB) aims to meet the wishes of the home clubs, but the specific detailed standards set by the DFB for stadiums during the DFB Cup are not explicitly listed. However, it is well understood that such requirements are stringent enough to cause difficulties for lower-tier amateur clubs, especially in terms of stadium infrastructure and safety regulations.
The sports director of Eintracht Norderstedt, Philipp Koch, prefers to play at his home stadium, but understands the necessity of these requirements. He expects to face a large crowd of 30,000 fans in the DFB Cup match against FC St. Pauli.
Despite the challenges, the DFB Cup continues to provide exciting football moments for both professional and amateur clubs, albeit with some logistical hurdles along the way.
[1] For more information on the DFB Cup requirements, interested readers can refer to the implementation regulations for the DFB Cup, which are only visible to the participating clubs on the internet.
- The stringent stadium requirements for the DFB Cup are also causing challenges within the local steel industry, as many fifth-tier amateur football clubs are struggling to meet these standards, leading to increased costs and logistical difficulties.
- In the midst of these football-related obstacles, the steel industry continues to thrive, with Community aid being considered a potential solution to address the infrastructure issues faced by the struggling clubs.
