A man has been arrested after climbing onto the roof of the BVB Stadium in Dortmund during Germany’s Euro 2024 round of 16 match against Denmark, police said.
Dortmund police reported that they first noticed the presence of the 21-year-old man from Osnabrück on the roof on Saturday evening at 10:11 pm local time and continued to monitor his movements with drones and a helicopter.
Social media shows a man dressed in black and with his face covered climbing up the ridge of the stadium.
“There was no danger to other people in the stadium at any time. The Dortmund police have ruled out any political motivation,” the police said in a statement.
He was arrested at 11:44 p.m. local time, police said, after he complied with police requests and was found with camera equipment in his bag.
While he was being held, police said he was on the roof to take “good pictures.”
Dortmund police added that investigations showed that the man wanted to take photos of prominent buildings at “great heights” in Herne in April 2022 and in Ulm in May 2024.
The man has been released while trespassing charges begin, the statement said.
UEFA – the European Football Association – said the safety and security of the stadiums was the “ultimate priority” for them, the German Football Association and the tournament organisers.
“UEFA would like to commend the police, the stadium and local authorities for their cooperation in last night’s incident in Dortmund involving a person arrested by police on the roof of the stadium,” UEFA told CNN in a statement .
“The highly professional handling of the issue by the police and special units, and the excellent cooperation between the DFB, EURO 2024 GmbH and representatives of the authorities on the ground were crucial for the successful resolution of the incident without harming anyone, as well as for the successful delivery of the match.”
Dortmund police said they and UEFA would now investigate how the man got onto the roof.
Germany, the host country of Euro 2024, defeated Denmark 2-0 on Saturday to qualify for the quarter-finals. The match was stopped for about 25 minutes due to lightning and heavy rain.
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