Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 6y

Borussia Dortmund fans to boycott Monday match vs. Augsburg

Borussia Dortmund supporters have announced a boycott of their Monday night home match against Augsburg in late February.

Dortmund, who are involved in Europa League after their failure to qualify from the Champions League group stages, are set to meet Augsburg on Monday, Feb. 26, with the game kicking off at 8.30 p.m. local time.

But the Sudtribune Dortmund alliance, a collective of Ultra groups and fan clubs, announced they would not be attending a match on a Monday.

"We will no longer play along to the absurd development of kick-off times," a statement read. "We've reached a point where we've ultimately gone beyond what's acceptable.

"Several groups and fan clubs who've been at every BVB home match at the Westfalenstadion will not attend the Monday night game. This decision is in no way directed against the team. We just can't and don't want to accept Bundesliga matches on a Monday."

In late June 2016, the Bundesliga confirmed that five of the league's 306 matches would be played on a Monday night from the 2017-2018 season on, initially planned to allow for a long break for the German Europa League starters.

With no match played on a Monday night during the first half of the Bundesliga season, all five matches are set to go ahead during the run-in until May. Three of them have been already been scheduled.

However, the Sudtribune Dortmund alliance said the introduction of those games were "another big step towards the sell-out of football," adding that "clubs, associations and TV stations" acted without consideration for the fans.

"BVB are sadly not the exception from the rule," they said, adding that some fans would not be able to travel on a Monday night. "Once again, the fans willing to support their club in the stadium are the losers."

With almost 100 percent of the tickets for the Yellow Wall, Dortmund's giant standing terrace with a 25,000 capacity, sold as season tickets, a successful boycott could produce some unwanted PR for those in charge of German football.

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