German police have confirmed to The Athletic that they have opened an investigation into an incident in which police officers mistreated a Portugal fan in the quarter-finals of the European Championship.
European Football Championships on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
Organizational and security problems have become one of the big, more annoying topics of football’s European Championship.
Spectators have been able to rush onto the green in a confusing amount from match to match. Spectators have thrown mainly beer mugs onto the field, but also other kinds of stuff.
In the last quarter-final match, Turkey unexpectedly beat Austria. When Austria Marcel Sabitzer was about to take a corner kick, a coin was thrown at his head from the stands.
The success of organizing control at EC stadiums has understandably been questioned.
Now, however, a different case has come to light. Portuguese media by sharing in Record X on video shows how the security guards hit and kick the spectator several times in the Frankfurt arena.
Portuguese magazine According to Correio da Manhã the supporter was caught by the security guards when he tried to rush onto the field Cristiano Ronaldo after a successful penalty kick.
Ronaldo failed in the penalty kick in the follow-up match, but succeeded in the penalty shootout. Portugal advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Slovenia 3–0 on penalties. Portuguese Diogo Costa repelled all three Slovenians’ toughs.
According to Correio da Manhã, witnesses said that another Portuguese supporter tried to stop his friend from running onto the pitch. According to the newspaper, this too had been subjected to harsh treatment by the law enforcement officers.
The Athletic writesthat the German police have now opened an investigation into the actions of the law enforcers based on a video shared by a Portuguese website.
– I can confirm that we are aware of the incident and are investigating it, a spokesman for the Frankfurt police told Athletic.
Last week, Uefa said it would increase security measures at stadiums. Before that, we saw the first group match between Turkey and Portugal, where at least seven spectators rushed to the field. Everyone tried to get a group photo with Ronaldo.
For example, the head coach of Portugal Roberto Martinez expressed concern for the safety of the players.
– As a reminder, every intrusion into the field violates the rules of the stadium and leads to expulsion from the stadium, a gate ban from all matches of the tournament and a criminal report, Uefa has informed several times.
However, nothing has actually changed in the stadiums. Uefa has mainly been satisfied with handing out fines to those football associations whose fans have been deemed guilty.
Uefa’s latest announcements are, for example: a 28,000 euro fine for the Croatian federation for lighting and throwing flares and a 47,500 euro fine for the Albanian federation for flares and provocative messages.