‘Football for all’: Fortuna Düsseldorf to offer fans free tickets next season
The German second division club Fortuna Düsseldorf will be offering free tickets to all fans in some matches next season as part of a new strategy of anchoring the club tighter to the city and fans.
Fortuna officials said free tickets to all supporters, registering on a platform to be part of the ticket draw, would be offered for at least three league home games next season and the cost would be covered by sponsors.
“We open up football for all. We will have free entry for league games in this stadium,” Alexander Jobst, the club’s chief executive, said. “We call it ‘Fortuna for all’ which can and will lead us to a successful future.”
He said a pilot phase with at least three home games next season would be expanded to more matches and eventually to all home games. “Fortuna remains a club and this club belongs to friends and members,” he said. “We have the responsibility to set the foundations for a successful future. That was our compass.”
The club said companies had signed up for a five-year deal worth €45m. Twenty per cent of those revenues will go to youth and women’s football and another 20% will go to digital infrastructure and the stadium, the club said. “In order to be able at the end to offer all home games for free we need more long-term partners to join us on this path,” Jobst said.
Fortuna have average home attendances of almost 30,000 in the second division this season. Germany’s topflight Bundesliga is the world’s best-attended football league with more than 42,000 fans on average a match. “It is a unique concept for football and I am confident it will take Fortuna forward,” said Düsseldorf mayor Stephan Keller. “You can feel that something new starts today … that could ignite a potential revolution in football.”*