European Football Championships on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
The ongoing European Championship in Germany is a common football celebration for the whole of Europe, the image stream of which has been filled with happy celebrating supporters.
According to the European football association Uefa, as many as 2.3 million tickets have been sold for the tournament and a total of more than 3.3 million people visited the city’s fan areas already during the initial group stage. Managing a huge number of people requires planning.
Finn Jussi Hartikainen ensures on site that the supporters are taken into account in the tournament arrangements. He has been the supporter coordinator of Football Supporters Europe (FSE) since September of last year.
– I have a long background in the Suomen National Team Supporters Association, which is a member of FSE. “A little over a year ago, a position as the national team supporter’s coordinator at the EC final tournament opened up and after a reasonably long process, I was chosen,” says Hartikainen.
FSE is an association registered in Germany, which includes members from all over Europe and UEFA member countries. Its membership consists of individual members, club and national team supporter groups and organizations. Hartikainen is one of FSE’s approximately ten employees.
Tournament preparations were made long and carefully. As far as Hartikainen is concerned, the preparatory work included a lot of contact with the tournament organization established for the European Championships, Uefa, various supporter groups and, for example, public transport service providers.
– I make sure that the cooperation with the competition cities, the tournament organizer, the authorities and other supporter groups is smooth, Hartikainen sums up.
Many supporters travel to the games independently, but there is an extensive support network available to them on site if needed. FSE cooperates closely with the self-maintained info services of supporters from different countries and the Fans Welcome fan project supported by the German Ministry of the Interior, which carries out extensive coordination work. Hartikainen’s job description especially includes supporting supporter information services.
– Most of the countries that made it to the Games have their own information service, which often works in cooperation with the country’s football association. They offer help in practical matters. On game days, telephone service is often available around the clock.
Supporters’ needs have been widely taken into account in Germany, as the tournament organization now also has a separate person focused on supporter services for the first time. In addition, most of the football associations participating in the games have their own supporter contact person.
Football celebration, but also cracks
Hartikainen’s accommodation is in Frankfurt during the tournament, but German railways have become familiar in recent weeks. Another significant part of his job description consists of observations carried out in different competition cities.
– I have toured the match venues with a UEFA representative, observing events. We monitor how the arrangements and services work from a supporter’s point of view, both in stadiums and in city fan areas. So far, we have done observation in nine cities and the last one is still in the program during the tournament, says Hartikainen.
By the quarter-finals, the arrangements have received a good rating.
– From a supporter’s point of view, the tournament is clearly well organized. The stadiums and cities have generally had a wonderful competition atmosphere and the supporters have been satisfied. There have been challenges in traffic arrangements, but they have been responded to by increasing the number of shuttle buses, for example.
In 2021, the European Championships were played distributed across Europe. In addition, the corona pandemic restrained the travel of supporters. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar also did not have a carnival atmosphere, so the current tournament is the first big football celebration of the 2020s for the Europeans.
– You can tell that they have come here to celebrate football. Instead of external things, football is now the focus, says Hartikainen.
In the shadow of the football celebration, there have also been isolated incidents of disorder. However, no significant contacts between supporters have been seen.
– Harassment of players with laser pointers and throwing plastic cups onto the field are of course unpleasant cases, but in the overall picture the disorder has been quite minor in the end. Based on the comments of the police, for example, not many arrests have been made. Good-spirited competitions are underway.
Of all the supporters from different countries, one group has made a particularly strong impression.
– The Scots have certainly been remembered by everyone in the cities where they played. Many were of the opinion that the Scots should not have gone home, even though the team was relegated, but they should have stayed here and continued the football celebration.
Even though the games have gone well from the fans’ point of view, the behavior of the supporters in the European Championship stadiums has been surprising: an amazing number of spectators have gotten onto the field to attack the players in the hope of taking pictures together, and all kinds of things, from beer cans to sneakers, have been thrown onto the field from the stands.
A sad example of disorder in stadiums was obtained on Tuesday evening, when in the quarter-final between Austria and Turkey, the Austrian Marcel Sabitzer hit his head with a coin.
– This is really sad and a shame. I witnessed a football party on the spot. We saw very few fights. People got along well. There was a feeling of love. These events are ruining it. They ruin everything, Urheilu’s expert Paulus Arajuuri said in the EM studio.