About us
The Federal Association of Disabled Football Fans in Germany (Bundesbehindertenfanarbeitsgemeinschaft – abbr.: BBAG) is the German umbrella organisation for football fans with different disabilities. Members of the BBAG are both disabled supporter groups and football clubs and their disabled liaison officers. Most of the members are connected to clubs from the first division, the Bundesliga, to the fourth division.
The BBAG started its activities in 1999 and was founded as a charity organisation in 2003. Its main purpose is to advise the two associations in German football, Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB) and Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), in all issues concerning disabled people. The BBAG is also lobbying on national level towards the relevant stakeholders in German politics. Furthermore, its aim is to support German football clubs, both professional and non-professional, to improve their services for disabled supporters and to design their stadia accessible.
In 2009 the German Football League, responsible for the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga, worked out their first recommendations for the layout of new football stadia. Due to the expertise of the BBAG these recommendations became an excellent basis for further developments regarding accessibility in German football. In 2017, supported by the BBAG, these recommendations will be revised, taking more into consideration all aspects of inclusion predetermined by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) and the UEFA/CAFE guide ‘Access for all’.
What we achieved in the last years concerning the accessibility in German football stadia is among other things:
- the increase of the number of wheelchair user spaces
- the improvement of sightlines for wheelchair users by keeping the seats in front of the wheelchair user spaces free
- the increase of the number of disabled toilets
- the acquirement with mobile audio description units to be independent from a designated seat as a blind or partially sighted fan
- the installation of displays to provide deaf and hard of hearing fans with written match related Information.
The BBAG is also an active member of the following organisations: ‘Centre for Access to Football in Europe’ (CAFE) and ‘Football Supporters Europe’ (FSE).
For further information please contact us!