The German football club Fortuna Düsseldorf will hand out free tickets for three of next season's matches, in the hope it will encourage local support in the German city.
Second-division German club Fortuna Düsseldorf has announced that it will offer free tickets to a number of the team’s games next season. Team management hopes that the limited offer will tighten ties between fans, the club and the city in North Rhine-Westphalia.
So far, a pilot phase has been planned for next year’s season, which will include free tickets to at least three home games that the team will play in the 2. Bundesliga. Any Fortuna fan will be able to register their interest for a ticket to these three games on a yet-to-be-disclosed platform and will be entered into a ticket draw. The policy is set to cost the club between 7 and 8 million euros and the revenue loss will be covered by the club’s sponsors.
“We open up football for all. We will have free entry for league games in this stadium,” Fortuna Chief Executive Alexander Jobst said at a press conference. “Fortuna remains a club and this club belongs to friends and members. We have the responsibility to set the foundations for a successful future. That was our compass.”
Speaking at the Spobis sports congress, Jobst explained that once the team’s match schedule is published, three games at the 54.600 capacity stadium in Düsseldorf will be selected and included in the free-ticket scheme.
The selected games will be against “attractive opponents, one in the first leg (start of the season in August to the winter break), two in the second leg (January 2024 until the end of the season),” Jobst said. He added that season ticket holders will still be entitled to their benefits, guest fans will also have a chance to get free admission and the Fortuna ultras will still be seated in their traditional "Kurves" during the matches. “We want to reward loyalty,” Jobst said.
“It is a unique concept for football and I am confident it will take Fortuna forward,” the city’s mayor Stephan Keller said. “You can feel that something new starts today [...] that could ignite a potential revolution in football.”
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