Plan of action against football violence

For many years, authorities and clubs throughout Switzerland have been concerned with violence around football. In the city of Zurich, there were violent clashes in 2017 (see also video here), especially outside the stadium. The brutality of individual incidents was massive. At the beginning of 2018, the city of Zurich and the two city of Zurich football clubs began to work intensively on the problem in two different working groups. The working groups were merged in September 2018 in the "Doppelpass" project. During the second half of the 2018/19 football season, an improvement in the situation occurred.

Besides the common attitude, the good cooperation between the city and the clubs was the basis for the project. In addition, the focus was on the development of preventive measures. These are particularly useful with regard to those young fans who reject or merely tolerate violence. In contrast to this largest group of fans, repressive measures are the focus for the minority of criminal fans. 

Preventive measures

In the area of prevention, various actions are planned at hotspots in public spaces in order to make low-threshold contact with young people and to strengthen them in behaving without violence in conflicts. These awareness-raising actions are to be carried out in cooperation with various municipal and private actors in the field of violence prevention and youth work.

In addition, based on the project "unbeatable", which had been introduced in the sports clubs of the city of Zurich in the years 2010-2017, a new prevention project is to be set up, which explicitly also deals with the topic of "fan violence" and thus allows prevention work in this area. The main objective of "unbeatable" was to sensitize the participating clubs and their children and young people to the issue of violence. The clubs were to be enabled to create an environment conducive to violence and to react adequately to incidents. According to the City of Zurich's Security Department, the project was a success. Today, 81 clubs in the city of Zurich bear the "unbeatable" label: almost half of all children and young people who train in a club in the city of Zurich have been reached by this prevention project. As the project develops, it is conceivable - in cooperation with the Swiss Football Association - that it could be extended to the canton, and possibly to the whole of Switzerland. The goal is for as many soccer clubs as possible to commit themselves to respectful and non-violent interaction with one another and to have uniform rules and procedures for dealing with youth violence. So that both the clubs and the young people are able to resolve conflicts without violence.

In general, synergies are to be increasingly exploited in the cooperation between youth work and fan work in order to ensure continuous awareness of the issue of violence at the various venues where young people meet. Corresponding joint further training measures for the employees of the various players in the youth sector have been initiated.

Club activities

Grasshopper Club Zürich and FC Zürich are planning further visits to schools, where footballers and representatives of the clubs will interact with students and talk about topics such as fair play, respect and non-violent conflict resolution. The model is the "Stars at School" project, with which FCZ, GC and ZSC were present at schools in 2014. Contact with fans will continue to be primarily through the clubs. The city authorities will also maintain a dialog with the fans.

Security measures - possibly with video surveillance

Various measures have already been taken in the area of security. Since February 2018, a special commission (Soko) has been in place, in which the city police work closely with the public prosecutor's office and the Zurich cantonal police. The aim is to consistently identify and prosecute offenders. The successful concept has already led to numerous criminal proceedings and administrative measures under the Hooligan Concordat against violent football fans. Since the beginning of the year, the measures for the preservation of evidence in the security service have been extended in the case of high-risk operations. In addition, the public prosecutor's office has increased its "riot squad" to five people to ensure availability outside of match days. At present, it is not clear whether video surveillance should be increasingly used at neuralgic points. Here, the experiences with video surveillance in other areas are to be waited for, as it says in the media release.

"Doppelpass" continues

The cooperation between the clubs and the city of Zurich within the framework of "Doppelpass" has proved very successful and will therefore be continued. In addition, the ZSC and the cantonal police are to participate in order to extend the cooperation to other relevant partners. The aim is to continue working together on the issue and to be able to react quickly in the event of incidents.

The City of Zurich as well as GC and FCZ are aware that the problem of violence around football matches has not been solved. Measures at local, intercantonal and national level will of course continue to be necessary. Violence in connection with football matches is also a problem for society as a whole, which is why educators and the media, for example, are also called upon to take action. The city of Zurich and the clubs take joint responsibility where they can exert influence.

Press release Security Department of the City of Zurich