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04. 02. 10. - 16:00

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04. 02. 10. - 16:00

Football fan loses sexual discrimination court case

A football fan who claimed he was discriminated against because men had to pay more than women for match tickets has lost his case in the Constitutional Court (VfGH).

Robert Marschall, publisher of a Viennese online magazine, went to VfGH last October demanding 20 Euros in compensation for tickets he bought for two friendly matches played by Austria against Germany and the Netherlands in February and March 2008, respectively.

He claimed Austria had violated EU guidelines on equal treatment in pricing tickets for the matches. He said he had paid 18 Euros for a ticket to one of the two matches and 28 Euros for the other, whereas women’s tickets for the two games had cost only 11 and 15 Euros.

That constituted "sexual discrimination," he asserted, adding that "the Austrian Football Federation’s (ÖFB) decision to make special offers to women means that, for example, an unemployed man has to pay more than a successful businesswoman."

He explained he was suing not ÖFB but the Austrian state for violating EU guidelines on equal treatment.

VfGH ruled today (Thurs) that Marschall had failed to prove that he would have paid a different price if Austria had already fully implemented EU guidelines on equal treatment, which it had not.

The Court said it was also unclear whether different ticket prices for men and women would qualify as "discriminatory" under the guidelines.

ÖFB recently stopped offering discount tickets for women.

Austrian Times

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