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Borussia Dortmund handed 2-year Hoffenheim ban for offensive chants

Borussia Dortmund fans have been handed a two-year away ban at Hoffenheim, the German Football Associated (DFB) announced on Friday.

Sources told ESPN that the club's fans would receive a ban for chants against Hoffenheim's chief financial backer Dietmar Hopp.

"After the continued abuse of Dietmar Hopp, the withdrawal of the suspended sentence was inevitable as a consequence of the previous judgement from Nov. 2 2018," DFB Sports Tribunal chairman Hans E. Lorenz said in statement. 

"Today's judgement is no deviation from the practice in recent years of punishing unsporting behaviour from supporters with monetary fines. The banning of fans remains an option in serious, exceptional cases, in which a monetary fine would be insufficient."

 In addition, BVB must compensate the Hoffenheim fans for the reduced income caused by the exclusion of spectators in the away area.

The club has also been fined €50,000 and the club can use up to €17,000 for security-related and violence-preventive measures, which the DFB would have to show evidence of by Sept. 30 2020.

Dortmund supporters initially protested against Hoffenheim and Hopp as they believed the club's arrival in the top flight potentially undermined the Bundesliga's football culture by working around the 50+1 rule, which stipulates that more than 50% of a club must be owned by its members.

- ESPN+ obtains Bundesliga rights from 2020

Dortmund were given a €50,000 fine plus a suspended three-game away fans ban for matches at Hoffenheim two years ago, after supporters abused the home club's owner Hopp by displaying offensive banners, including one showing a portrait of the 79-year-old in cross hairs with "Hasta La Vista Hopp!" written underneath.

In May 2019, Dortmund were fined by a Sinsheim district court after supporters verbally abused Hoffenheim owner Hopp a year earlier. Dortmund have appealed against the judgement, but have yet to receive a date for their appeal hearing at the regional court.

When both sides met again at Hoffenheim in late December 2019, Dortmund supporters once again displayed several offensive banners and abused Hopp.

Dortmund travel to Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Saturday while Hoffenheim face an away match against Borussia Monchengladbach.

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