Violence: back to pre-pandemic levels
Ice hockey and football matches are often punctuated by crowd violence. To assist the cantons, fedpol operates the HOOGAN system, which, for example, records the number of people banned from matches.
The HOOGAN database contains information on spectators who have engaged in violence at sporting events either in Switzerland or abroad. The figures for persons and measures imposed by the authorities entered in this database are updated on the fedpol website every year at the beginning of July. Individuals remain registered for three years after the expiry of the last measure imposed. Entries are then deleted.
HOOGAN also serves as the basis for the ‘Electronic Presentation of the Swiss Sporting Situation’ (EPSSS reporting), which enables matches to be evaluated on the basis of events that have occurred.
| Active measures and number of people registered in HOOGAN | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active measures | 964 | 995 | 645 | 469 | 519 |
| Number of people registered with active measures | 668 | 622 | 431 | 315 | 332 |
| Number of new entries | 93 | 216 | 68 | 115 | 183 |
| Number of deleted entries | 106 | 270 | 250 | 338 | 286 |
| Total number of persons registered | 1 579 | 1 525 | 1 343 | 1 120 | 1 017 |
Since 2019, the number of people subject to active measures has decreased. The measures imposed by the authorities, such as an exclusion order or a stadium ban, have also fallen. This is due in particular to the COVID pandemic, during which matches took place with few or no spectators. As a result, there were few or no violent incidents.
Electronic Presentation of the Swiss Sporting Situation (EPSSS)
After each match day, the partners involved (police, sports federations and SBB) provide fedpol with information on violent incidents. This provides a sport policing coordination database which the police use to evaluate each match and draw up the EPSSS report once a year. This report enables a match-by-match review to be made, based on the incidents that have occurred.
Evaluation EPSSS report
-
2018/2019
-
88
-
114
-
919
-
-
2019/2020
-
73
-
72
-
942
-
-
2020/2021
-
4
-
23
-
1’074
-
-
2021/2022
-
81
-
145
-
927
-
-
2022/2023
-
94
-
124
-
935
-
- Violent events of particular gravity
- Violent events
- No event or minor events in the general social context
Key to the graph: During the 2022/2023 season, a total of 1,153 soccer and ice hockey matches were evaluated in the EPSSS reporting system. Of these, 94 matches were classified as ‘red’ with violent events of particular gravity.
The EPESSS report figures show that, since the 2021/2022 season, violence has returned to pre-pandemic levels. This is also reflected in the number of people newly registered in HOOGAN, which increased again in July 2023 compared with the previous year. The implications of the data recorded is not always immediately obvious, as it often takes time to identify those responsible for violent incidents, and action is not always taken immediately after an incident.