There were long queues at the entrance to the stadium during the DFB first round match between Rot-Weiss Essen and Borussia Dortmund. RWE has now commented on the incidents.

During the DFB Cup match between Rot-Weiss Essen and Borussia Dortmund (0:1) on Monday evening, there were long waiting times at the gates of the sold-out Hafenstraße stadium. In a statement published by RWE on Wednesday, it said that several causes for the long queues had been analyzed.

On the one hand, security measures in the entrance and control area had been significantly increased due to information from the authorities. On the other hand, the procedures and processes with the new security service provider “Stölting,” which was only on duty for the second time, were not yet fully coordinated.

The club emphasized that both the management team led by Marc-Nicolai Pfeifer and Alexander Rang, as well as security officer Sebastian Modes, event manager Damian Jamro, and those responsible from “Stölting” were on site to assess the situation and quickly work out solutions. “This ensured that all visitors were able to take their seats in the stadium on time,” the statement said.

For the future, the club hopes that all spectators will arrive at the stadium early for games with very high attendance. This is the only way to ensure that the necessary security measures can be implemented smoothly and that everyone can be admitted on time.

“We understand the frustration of our fans who had to wait longer outside the stadium. For us, it’s clear: safety comes first,“ emphasized RWE board member Rang. ”Nevertheless, we have to organize our processes in such a way that waiting times for our spectators are kept to a minimum. We apologize for this and assure you that we will do our part to further optimize the admission situation, even at games with increased requirements from the authorities,” promised Rang.

On Sunday, August 31, Alemannia Aachen will be the visitors to Hafenstraße. It will then probably become clear whether the optimizations will bear fruit, as the stadium is likely to be sold out again on that day.