During the last football season, the penalties imposed on football hooligans during matches in Belgium were much heavier than in the 2018-2019 pre-pandemic season, which is viewed as the result of a government crackdown on such behaviour.
The football cell of the FPS Home Affairs has imposed more than 1,800 years of stadium bans on football hooligans and handed out more than €900,000 in fines during the 2021-2022 football season, Home Affairs Minister Annelies Verlinden announced on Tuesday.
"After several incidents in our football stadiums, we decided to join forces with the police, the Pro League, the professional clubs and the Royal Belgian Football Association to tighten the approach to football violence," she said, referring to the "Together for Safe Football" action plan.
The plan, proposed by the sector's key players in May last year, is based on a shared commitment with the aim of punishing violence in and around football stadiums more severely, with a focus on physical violence, racism or xenophobia and the use of pyrotechnic material.
Penalties 'remarkably heavier'
Verlinden noted that, although there were not many more official reports than in the 2018-2019 pre-pandemic season (1,587 official reports last season compared to 1,482), the penalties imposed were "remarkably heavier": almost twice as many months of stadium bans were imposed (22,037 months compared to 11,229 in 2018-2019).
The total amount of fines is also significantly higher: €910,250 versus €540,525. "The stricter sanctions of the FPS Home Affairs football unit are a clear signal: misbehaviour has no place in our football stadiums," said Verlinden.
From the authority's side, the Federal Government last month approved a tightening of the Football Act, resulting in an increased chance of being caught, a tightening of penalties and a strengthening access control.
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To ensure perpetrators can only be punished, they have to be identified. For this purpose, the camera systems in the stadiums of professional clubs were inspected. Of the 30 professional clubs that were inspected, shortcomings were found at eight clubs.
