UEFA has officially rejected Eintracht Frankfurt's appeal to move their Champions League Group Stage Matchday 4 fixture against Napoli (scheduled for November 4) to a neutral venue, according to reports. The appeal came after Italian authorities ordered a ban on Frankfurt fans attending the game.
As a result, the match will go ahead as planned in Naples, but no Frankfurt supporters will be allowed entry. Under UEFA rules, away teams are typically allocated around 5% of the stadium's capacity (approximately 2,500 tickets). However, Napoli received an order from the local police chief on September 22, prohibiting ticket distribution to visiting fans.
Philipp Reschke, a member of Frankfurt's board, sharply criticized the inconsistent handling of high-risk matches across Europe: "The growing divergence in how high-risk games are managed by different countries and football associations has become a major issue for European fan culture and competitive fairness. In most nations, away fans are still welcome despite security challenges, but in places like France and Italy, they're simply excluded by authorities—that's unacceptable."
Frankfurt filed an official request to UEFA in early October, seeking a neutral venue or a behind-closed-doors match, citing safety and organizational flaws at Napoli's home ground. UEFA declined to back the request. Reschke noted: "UEFA's current regulatory framework offers no effective mechanism for clubs affected by government bans, nor does it address the resulting unfairness in atmosphere and competition."
UEFA confirmed in a statement that it will launch in-depth discussions on such away fan bans and explore adjustments to relevant competition rules.
Responding to this, Reschke said: "While we're furious to face this situation again in Naples, UEFA's statement is a positive sign. European football's safety policies will only become fairer when home clubs are required to share responsibility for government restrictions in the future—so that away fans and teams stop being the sole victims."
Since Frankfurt fans were first barred from traveling to Napoli in 2023, there have been 15 similar government-imposed bans in European competitions.
