There is a darker side to German football – but how best to resolve it?

There are few places indeed where it is better to be a fan than in Germany. Hannover 96 fans, for example, can see their team play FC Bayern for a mere 13 Euros. That’s if they don’t buy themselves a beer, of course, which they’re allowed to do. Oh and they can vote for the chap who pours his money into the club – itself a far better “fit and proper person” test than anything cooked up by the organisers of English football.

And yet, for all there is to admire about Germany’s fan culture, there is a darker side. Hooliganism is a liberally used word, but the behaviour of a number of fans at a number of clubs continually threatens to undermine the privileges which German fans and German fans alone currently enjoy.