The German Football Association (DFB) has given the go-ahead for the introduction of standing sections at senior women’s and men’s internationals and U21 matches.
The DFB said standing tickets will be available for the men’s national team’s upcoming UEFA Nations League home games against Greece in Augsburg on 27th September and Serbia in Munich on 1st October, the first time they have been offered at a senior men’s international in more than 25 years.
The move reflects the importance the DFB attaches to supporters and supporter culture at Germany internationals.
Standing sections have been an integral part of football in Germany for decades, and the DFB hopes their return will help create a livelier and more diverse fan culture at national team matches.
The change follows a decision by the UEFA Executive Committee to continue its Standing Facilities Observer Programme, which has been running in 10 participating national associations since the 2022/23 season, into 2026/27 and extend it to all UEFA competitions.
Until now, the programme had been limited to UEFA men’s club competitions.
Standing sections have already been used at women’s and U21 internationals. Lower-priced standing tickets are currently available for the women’s matches against Australia in Karlsruhe on 9th October and Japan in Bremen on 13th October.
In future, standing will also be available at UEFA competition fixtures involving the women’s and U21 national teams. The number of standing tickets available will vary depending on the venue and fixture.
DFB president Bernd Neuendorf said: “Standing sections are an important part of supporter culture and the matchday experience in Germany.
“We know from our conversations with fans just how much demand there is for standing at internationals. That is why we have pushed hard within UEFA over the past few years for standing sections to be brought back at international matches and tournaments.
“We’re delighted that we can now make this happen together with our supporters, and we hope it will help improve the atmosphere at internationals even further. It also gives fans another affordable way to attend matches, because football is for everyone.”
The return of standing sections is part of wider changes to the way the DFB works with supporters.
In recent years, it has expanded the options available to fans of Germany’s national teams.
As well as the official Fan Club Nationalmannschaft, which has existed for more than 20 years and has over 90,000 members, independently organised fan clubs can now register with the DFB.
Around 10,000 supporters from more than 500 fan clubs are currently registered in this way.
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