A man has been arrested after climbing onto the roof of the BVB Stadium in Dortmund during Germany’s round of 16 match against Denmark at Euro 2024, police said.
Dortmund police said they first noticed the presence of the 21-year-old man from Osnabrück on the roof at 10:11 p.m. local time on Saturday 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.
“At no time was there any danger to other people in the stadium. 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 complying with police requests. Camera equipment was found in his bag.
While being detained, police said he was on the roof to get “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 charges of trespassing proceed, the statement said.
UEFA – the European football governing body – 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, stadium and local authorities for their cooperation in the incident last night in Dortmund, where a person was arrested by police on the roof of the stadium,” UEFA told CNN in a statement.
“The highly professional conduct of the police and special units, and the excellent cooperation between the DFB, EURO 2024 GmbH and representatives of the authorities on site were crucial to the successful resolution of the incident without anyone being harmed, and to the successful delivery of the match.”
Dortmund police said they and UEFA will now investigate how the man got onto the roof.
Germany, the host nation of Euro 2024, defeated Denmark 2-0 on Saturday to advance to the quarter-finals. The match was halted for about 25 minutes due to lightning and heavy rain.
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