Hamburg’s Bundesliga 2 match against Hannover is temporarily suspended after away fans chain locks to goalposts and display unsavoury banners in protest against Hannover’s owners
- Hamburg’s match against Hannover was temporarily suspended on Friday
- Away fans protested against their club’s owners by attaching locks to the goals
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Hamburg’s defeat in Bundesliga 2 against Hannover was temporarily suspended at half-time due to problems among the away fans at the Volksparkstadion.
Hannover fans appeared to chain locks to the goalposts in the ground in protest against the club’s owners.
Fans on the away end had also held up banners depicting Hanover chairman Martin Kind between a crosshair.
Members of the stadium staff were seen on the pitch cutting the locks with an angle grinder before the match resumed. Sebastian Ernst scored in the eighth minute of stoppage time to seal a dramatic 4-3 win for Hannover, who also had two red cards.
Amid the crowd trouble, Hannover goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler was also seen during the live coverage of the match, stepping over the advertising hurdles and approaching the away fans.
Hamburg’s Bundesliga 2 match against Hannover was temporarily suspended after away fans held up a banner of their owner in a crosshairs
Fans had also attached several locks to the goalposts in the stadium in protest
The captain was seen walking towards the supporters in an attempt to quell the crowd’s concerns.
Their protests were related to Hannover’s decision to vote in favor of the German Football Association’s (DFL) proposals to acquire new strategic investment partners.
Under the plans, the DFL would negotiate a deal to sell an eight percent stake in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 media rights to private equity firms.
In December, 24 clubs from the top two divisions voted in favor of the proposals, which could generate around £683 million (€800 million) and £853 million (€1 billion) in revenues.
According to the DFL, the DFL currently earns around £170 million (€200 million) from television revenue SportsPro Media.
Bloomberg states that several private equity firms, including CVC Capital Partners and Blackstone Group have already submitted bids to buy the rights.
But the move has been met with hostility among fans, who believe the move could come at the expense of their clubs.
Fans are concerned that the new investment could cause stakeholders to put TV viewers and the rights of the media company above those of fans attending the games.
Similar scenes have played out around Germany’s top divisions in the past two weeks, with Dortmund’s match against Freiburg being interrupted for 10 minutes on Friday evening after fans threw tennis balls and coins onto the pitch.
Grounds crews stepped onto the pitch to remove the locks attached to the goals
It comes amid widespread protests over the DFL’s proposals to sell a minority stake in the media rights for the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2.
Even without the temporary suspension, Hamburg and Hannover played an eventful match with seven goals, a red card and an own goal.
The visitors would take a 2-0 lead after just 21 minutes, with Nicolo Tresoldi finding the back of the net first, before Hamburger Guilherme Ramos fired a cross into the back of his own net.
Laszlo Benes would pull one back for the home side shortly afterwards, before Louis Schaub fired home a shot to make it 3-1. Dennis Hadzikadunic would head for Hamburg after half-time to give them a glimmer of hope before Benes struck his second of the match to level matters.
There was more drama as both he and Hadzikadunic would be sent off late in the match, with Ernst sealing the win for Hamburg.