Champions League fixtures: Fans facing 'worrying' trends in safety at matches

Football fans are facing "extremely worrying trends" in safety and security at Uefa matches across Europe, supporters' groups have told the BBC.

Next week's Uefa Champions League fixtures include two ties - Napoli's home game with Frankfurt and Ajax's visit to Marseille - to which away fans have been banned from travelling by local authorities.

Meanwhile, Liverpool supporters have been told they must take hours-long buses with no access to toilet facilities for their match against Galatasaray in Istanbul, and been warned that items including phone power banks, medication and women's hygiene products will be confiscated before entry.

"We have public authorities that are giving up and saying that they can't do their job," said Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe. "It is an extremely worrying trend. There should be consequences to this, but unfortunately at the moment this is not the case."

Uefa did not provide a response despite multiple requests from the BBC.

The practice of regional police forces banning away fans at some matches, particularly in France and Italy, has become more common in recent years.

In some cases where fans are allowed to travel, they are banned from visiting the centre of the host city - this was the case when Tottenham visited France's Rennes in 2021.

"We understand that some fan bases can be harder to host than others, but banning away fans from traveling is not a response to any of this," Evain added.

"It is really disappointing to see that there's no progress in France and Italy. It's an easy response to a complicated problem.

"Opening an away end and providing 5% of tickets to the away fans is part of Uefa's rules, just like the size of the pitch or anything else. Travel bans are the public authorities' way of saying saying, 'Sorry, we are deciding not to respect that rule, and we are not capable of hosting the game properly'.

"If public authorities said something like 'the roof is not safe, we can't organise the game properly', then the match would be played somewhere else."

The Naples chief of police justified the decision to ban Frankfurt fans from travelling by citing "the high risks to public order and safety", while Ajax said the Marseille authorities had told them that fans would not be allowed "into the city or the stadium on grounds of public safety and security".

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