Overview
- Twenty identified ultras have been issued stadium-area bans ahead of Saturday’s Köln–Mönchengladbach match.
- Authorities say about 500 potentially violent individuals from both fan bases will be closely monitored.
- A separate anti-racism demonstration expected to draw roughly 10,000 people will trigger extensive street closures and traffic disruptions.
- Police plan a strong presence on travel routes, around the RheinEnergieStadion, and at known gathering spots to prevent clashes.
- The security push revives a political dispute after NRW’s Herbert Reul and Saxony’s Armin Schuster floated billing clubs for major deployments, a step Köln executive Philipp Türoff publicly rejected.