Security is the main concern of the Eurocup organization

Attacks, extremists, cyber attacks: Germany is preparing to face all threats, one month away from Euro 2024, which will take place with conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine in the background. The main objective is to ensure the protection of the 2.7 million spectators expected for the matches, as well as the bases of the 24 teams spread across the country, in addition to the ten stadiums that will host the 51 matches, from June 14th to July 14th. . Fan-fests can host up to 12 million people.

“From the beginning, security was our biggest priority, said former player Philipp Lahm, president of the competition’s organizing committee, in a recent interview with AFP.

Rarely has the geopolitical context been so tense, and the European Championship, as well as the Paris Olympic Games, which will take place shortly after, are in the sights of extremists and terrorists, as they offer a huge stage for all types of demands.

Germany will debut a device presented as unprecedented for this major international event: all nations participating in the tournament will send experts – more than 300 in total – who will meet at an International Police Cooperation Center (IPPC) in Neuss.

Your task, alongside the German authorities, Europol and UEFA, will be to monitor and coordinate the set of security measures in a huge 500 square meter room, equipped with 129 computers and a 40 square meter screen.

“Each country knows its problem-makers better than any other, the foreign experts present in Neuss will be able to identify them more quickly. The delegations will be more or less reinforced depending on the number and dangerousness of their fans. England, for example, will have many more representatives than Switzerland”, Oliver Strudthoff, director of the IPCC, explained to AFP.

On the ground, all agents will be mobilized: during the tournament, federal police officers will not have the right to vacation. Between 800 and 1,300 security forces agents will be deployed around the tournament’s ten stadiums.

For a month, Germany will control all of its borders with its nine neighboring countries. “On trains and stations, the federal police will visibly reinforce their presence,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior. The same will happen at airports.

Known for its hooligans, London banned travel from “more than 1,600” English and Welsh fans deemed violent. Of the 24 participating teams, Ukraine will be subject to “special protection measures”, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently announced.