Why Leeds United's pre-season tour of Germany will be behind closed doors (again)

New York Times

3 days ago

Leeds United travel to Germany this weekend for a one-week pre-season training camp and, for the second time in as many years, their supporters have been asked not to travel.
Daniel Farke will take his squad back to his homeland for what he sees as a crucial period of preparation ahead of the Premier League campaign, which begins next month. The club is expected to contest two friendlies during their week in Germany, which follows the summer opener — with fans in attendance — against Manchester United in Stockholm on Saturday.
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There had been an expectation that Leeds fans would be able to attend this summer, having missed out last time. That is not the case.
Why is the week in Germany playing out behind closed doors again, though? The Athletic tries to explain the situation.
On January 23, Angus Kinnear, the chief executive at the time, addressed the club's supporter advisory board. In a section attributed to Kinnear, the minutes from that meeting state: 'Pre-season next summer will be in Europe with matches fans will be able to attend.
'A first fixture to be announced in due course, with additional Elland Road fixtures also to be revealed down the line.' Six months ago, Kinnear evidently had confidence that there would be no issue with spectators this summer.
On June 27, the club released its first statement on their Germany plans. It noted the plans established earlier in 2025: 'Opponents and venues for fixtures were arranged earlier this year and written assurances secured from both the German FA and our tour operator as well.'
The same statement laid out the current position: 'Frustratingly, despite having matches agreed for a number of months, we have, in the last week, been informed the police and local authorities will, once again, not grant a permit for us to play matches in front of spectators, will prohibit us from providing live updates and video streams, and have requested we discourage supporter travel.'
Based on that information, the club was expecting to have a traditional week in Germany, with supporters watching their friendlies, until the authorities reached out in mid-to-late June. As it stands, the club will spend the week there, but will conduct all training and matches behind closed doors.
In its 2025 statement, Leeds reflected on what happened 12 months earlier: 'Last summer, we were asked at short notice by the police and local authorities not to bring supporters due to a resource strain following UEFA Euro 2024.'
The club expected, as per Kinnear's January comments and last month's statement, to be playing in front of fans after conversations with the German football association (DFB) and their tour operator. With no summer tournament in Germany, United expected there would be no repeat of the strain on local police.
While the club has not publicly disclosed where in Germany the team will be based, on multiple occasions, with Norwich City and Leeds, Farke has held camps in Harsewinkel, North Rhine-Westphalia.
Pascal Pettinato, chief inspector at North Rhine-Westphalia Police, said: 'There is an agreement between the Central Information Office for Sports Operations (ZIS, also known as National Football Information Point) and the German football association (DFB) regarding international test (friendly) matches.
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'Every planned test match with international participation is checked for certain security aspects. These include, for example, the venue must meet certain security-related requirements, such as the possibility of fan segregation, or the local security authorities must not be required to request additional nationwide support forces.
'If even one of these security-relevant requirements is not met, such a test match can only be assessed negatively from a police perspective. To ensure a match can still take place, the clubs have the option of excluding spectators from the event.
'At this point, I would also like to inform you that not every Leeds United match should have taken place without spectators. For example, there were initially plans to hold a match in Rostock where, as far as I know, spectators would have been allowed.'
Leeds dispute that a friendly was ever planned for Rostock, adding the city is more than four hours away from where they will be based next week.
Leeds are not disclosing who their planned opponents were, for fear of supporters attending the behind-closed-doors matches next week. However, The Athletic understands both of the previously arranged matches were against teams from Germany's top two divisions at stadiums with five-figure capacities.
These stadiums host large crowds all year round, where segregation between home and away supporters is the norm.
Leeds said the DFB had given them assurances, earlier in 2025, about fan attendance for these games. The police had also mentioned their agreement with DFB on friendlies involving foreign clubs.
In a statement to The Athletic, the DFB said: 'The decision is made in close coordination with the Central Information Office for Sports Operations (ZIS), which collects, evaluates and processes information, particularly on football matches, in order to improve security at these events.
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'For each request to host a football match, a site-specific, case-by-case assessment is conducted. The final decision by the DFB committee or the relevant specialist group of DFB GmbH & Co. KG is largely based on the assessment of the ZIS, which in turn is based on information from the local police authorities and the State Information Offices (LIS).'
The key comment came at the end of its statement: 'Especially for international matches, where a significant number of fans are expected to travel, some municipalities reach their security organisational limits during the summer break. This is often due to the staffing situation, including the reduction of overtime among police forces during the summer break.'
The police and DFB have, at no stage, publicly suggested this ban is in place because Leeds are the visiting club involved. In one of his statements, chief inspector Pettinato said: 'The police are not only looking at the possible fan scenes of the international guest clubs, but also the scenes of the German clubs. The exclusion of spectators, therefore, always affects both clubs.'
It is the combination of the visiting Leeds fans with the supporters of the clubs they are facing, which is assessed alongside the resources at the police's disposal. In a later statement, the police spokesman explained that the quantity of visiting supporters is not an issue if the police do not expect security problems.
'It is the case if the venues do not meet the security requirements or if additional police forces, such as 'closed units' or a riding squad, are required for the match, such a match will be assessed negatively by the ZIS,' he said.
'This assessment is ultimately forwarded to the DFB. Each match is subject to individual review and is assessed accordingly. Many factors play a role in determining the number of police officers required for each match.
'It is, of course, possible to play matches with international clubs with many fans if we do not expect any security problems from fan groups (whether home or away).'
Leeds sources, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, said the police were presented with files on each of the club's international friendlies since 2017. United were pointing out how little crowd trouble or disturbance there had been when they played outside the UK.
The club is also understood to have offered to fly over its own stewards from the UK to oversee the club's fans inside the stadiums. The Athletic put this offer to the police for a response.
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'Stewards ensure security in and around the stadium,' the spokesman said. 'The police assess the overall situation and ensure security on travel routes and outside the stadium, for example, in city centres.
'The deployment or the number of stewards, therefore, has no influence on our assessment. The agreement between the DFB and the police applies to all international test matches, regardless of the club, the fans or the country.'