Thousands of European Championship fans have to go home early

The next big European Championship party has fallen victim to the weather, at least in parts of Germany. During the DFB team’s round of 16 match against Denmark on Saturday, many fans had to go home early – the Dortmund venue was particularly badly hit.

There, the match was temporarily interrupted due to hail, heavy rain and a thunderstorm. After a forced break of around 25 minutes, play continued in the stadium, but the public viewing events were cancelled early.

Tobias Reinartz, a meteorologist at the German Weather Service in Offenbach, had already explained on Saturday afternoon that going there was not advisable. “It can be very dangerous if you are outside.” Public viewing in Gelsenkirchen also had to be cancelled. The reason was a thunderstorm front with gusts of wind force 9, the city announced. Fences were reportedly damaged and posters flew through the air.

The city of Frankfurt took action early on and announced that the fan zone would remain closed for the entire Saturday. The Tourismus+Congress GmbH as the organizer and the security authorities have been intensively assessing the situation with the German Weather Service over the past few hours. “They have come to the conclusion that the Frankfurt fan zone cannot be operated safely given these forecasts,” it said. There was also an official storm warning for the area around Saarbrücken in the evening.

“Extension not recommended”

In Dortmund, where the round of 16 match of national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team was played at the home European Championships, the impending danger was known. However, the forecast initially only indicated a strong thunderstorm towards the end of the game. “Extra time would probably not be advisable, and not just from a meteorological point of view,” explained Reinartz.

The DWD had already announced isolated thunderstorms in central Germany during the day, before a pronounced thunderstorm situation was expected in the evening. “The focus is in the southwest and will then shift to Hesse and western Thuringia,” said meteorologist Reinartz. “It is absolutely advisable to keep an eye on the warning situation and weather developments!” On Wednesday, at the end of the preliminary round, fan zones had to be evacuated due to a severe storm in the evening.