German politicians pressure football bodies over stadium violence

German states are ramping up the pressure on the football league and clubs to ban violent fans or face repercussions.

The interior ministers of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, Herbert Reul and Armin Schuster, have aired the possibility of billing police costs or denying permits for football events if the league and clubs do not act more decisively against fan trouble at games.

"The measures are in our toolkit. It’s quite broad and deep - it includes billing, event bans, and more. These aren’t threats, they’re logical consequences," Schuster said in an interview with football magazine Kicker on Monday.

The two politicians accuse the German Football Federation (DFB) and the German Football League (DFL) of being too timid with regards to hooligans, particularly when it comes to stadium bans.

Reul said: "That makes me furious. And if the associations aren’t now capable of at least implementing that, but are just stalling for time, then that doesn’t increase their credibility."

He wants new stadium ban regulations to be in place by mid-June.