President Dirk Zingler has severely criticized UEFA for excluding Eintracht fans

President Dirk Zingler from 1. FC Union Berlin was extremely critical of the exclusion of Eintracht Frankfurt fans from the round of 16 second leg in the Champions League at SSC Naples. “It’s a catastrophic development,” said Zingler ahead of Union’s round of 16 first leg in the Europa League against Belgian representative Union Saint-Gilloise (3-3). RTL+.

“We must not forget that we play football for people. We want people to come to the stadium. We should all be careful not to lose sight of the core of our sport,” said Zingler: “UEFA must take action and must not be fooled around.”

In a decree drawn up by the Italian Ministry of the Interior and the Prefecture of Naples, the Italian leader is prohibited from “selling tickets to people residing in Germany” due to security concerns.

Accordingly, Frankfurt will have to do without its own fans for the game on March 15 in Italy (9 p.m.). In principle, the Europa League winner would have been entitled to 2,700 tickets, 2,400 of which are in the guest sector.

Eintracht wants to defend itself legally against the exclusion of the fans. Napoli won the first leg 2-0, and there were violent attacks and arrests around the stadium around the game.

“We have appealed against UEFA’s verdict because we find it disproportionate,” Zingler also wrote in the Unioner Stadionzeitung about the game against the Belgians: “Collective punishment at the expense of many bystanders is wrong. But a culture or form of your own is just as wrong Supporting the club in which other groups and people are dominated and have to face consequences for which they are not responsible. The club cannot and will not accept rule violations of this kind.”