During Red Star’s last visit, shots were fired: YB wants to keep the Wankdorf in Bernese hands

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YB also wanted to see the stadium in Bernese hands in August 2019, when it came to qualifying for the Champions League. At that time, many season ticket holders resold their tickets to Serbian fans who could not get a ticket. “The fan community was ultimately significantly larger than the 2,000 fans in the guest sector,” Bern’s safety director Reto Nause told “20 Minutes” in surprise at the time. At the time, only season ticket holders could purchase tickets. Maximum seven per capita.

Tickets can only be transferred once

The fact that only 300 tickets for the match were available individually in 2023 suggests that it might be better to keep Serbian fans away this time. All others had already been sold as a package before the start of the Champions League campaign.

And not only that: since this season, tickets are only available via the YB ticket app, which requires registration. You can then forward the tickets if necessary when someone else goes to the match. Portability is now limited. “The tickets can now only be forwarded once,” explains YB CEO Wanja Greuel. “This should allow us to prevent a larger black market. “It’s okay to pass the card to your uncle. But he shouldn’t be able to pass it on to a Red Star fan. Greuel: “We have discovered that the risk of this is much greater with the second transmission.”

And it’s not just about keeping the arena yellow and black when it comes to support. “Mixed sectors pose a high potential for danger,” says Greuel, who confirms that YB has received a lot of ticket requests recently.

Pepper spray, batons, fights… and shots

The Serbian media can also play a role in this. In 2019, they boiled over and added fuel to the fire when they accused YB of trying to drive Serbian fans out of the stadium who had been given tickets outside the away area. YB media spokesperson Albert Staudenmann told Blick at the time: “Nobody will be kicked out of the stadium if they follow the rules. We only reserve the right to change placements if we see that matchgoers may pose a problem due to their placement.”

In any case, the memories of the last performance of the Red Star fans in Bern form one retrospective horror show. During the fan march towards the stadium, in which more than a thousand Serbian fans took part, some hit people – sometimes with iron bars. The situation escalated and the police could not control the situation with pepper spray and batons. In the end she even had to fire three warning shots. In addition, some fans tried to storm the away sector. The police were able to prevent that. “The willingness of these fans to be violent was great,” Nause said at the time.

Nausea: “It’s a crimson game”

And what about the safety director for the 2023 edition? “We have this game on the radar after the negative experiences four years ago since the draw,” says Nause. “It’s a crimson game. Highest level of security. We expect about 2,000 Red Star fans. And not only from Serbia and Switzerland, but also from neighboring countries. The police presence is correspondingly high.”

It is also believed that there will be a fan march, Nause said. “We will position ourselves accordingly along the route.” So that you no longer see these kinds of scenes in 2019. It is to be hoped that this is not a pious wish.

Source : Blick