Lots of fans without tickets, fans marching into the city, the ugly scene in the first leg: Eintracht Frankfurt’s Europa League semi-final against West Ham is also becoming a challenge for the police. The view of the city will change only on Wednesday.
A fan invasion in a foreign city is nothing new for Eintracht Frankfurt. Usually something like this always happens when the Hessians are out. However, on Thursday, the event will take place in Frankfurt itself – when West Ham United play the second leg of the semi-finals at Eintracht (Thursday at 9 p.m. in hr-iNFO audio stream) Hit. Then, for once, there’s a small fan attack on the other side.
Eintracht itself expects around 6,000 Hammers supporters in the city. Frankfurt Police estimate a similar number and speak of a “mid-four-digit range”, as a police spokesman said on Tuesday when asked by Gong-Sport. Whatever the case: they will appear on the day of the match in Frankfurt.
Hellmann: “Expect many fans without tickets at the stadium”
To make matters worse: 1,500 to 3,000 West Ham supporters are likely to travel to Frankfurt without tickets and still trying to get tickets to the game in some way. Eintracht board spokesman Axel Hellmann stressed, “We are expecting many fans without tickets at the stadium. The police are prepared for this situation.”
Before that, however, a small fan march by Londoners has also been planned. Eintracht assumes that it will go from Römer to the stadium via the main train station. However, the police expect that the train will stop at the main railway station and special trains will take you from there to the jungle of the city. Either way, meeting places for hammocks fans have already been earmarked: Romer and an Irish bar in the station district.
Fan isolation across the city
The federal police have already been warned about the fan march and are preparing accordingly. For example, many English-speaking officers are on duty. Fan segregation will also be strict across the city. “That is the ultimate goal,” a police spokesman said. The riots around the game must be stopped at any cost.
However, one logistical problem in Frankfurt cannot be bypassed: in England there are many bars around the stadiums where you can watch the game – if you don’t have a ticket. Not so in Frankfurt. As a result, un-ticketed fans initially have no contact points in the city’s woods. This information has already been given to the hammer appendix. Will it make them go away and won’t they come? completely open.
Police presence increased even before Wednesday
The police wants to increase its presence in the entire city from Wednesday and is preparing intensively for the operation. Eintracht is also preparing for the arrival of fans, but unlike the first stage, they want one thing not to do as an opponent: You can also enter the stadium if you have a ticket.
“Just because someone wears another club crest on their scarf doesn’t mean they will be kicked out of neutral seating,” CEO Hellman said. West Ham had handled this differently in the first leg and denied Eintracht fans access to the stadium or later removed them from the stadium. Hessian wants to be the better host.
The time after the game is especially important for the organizers and the police. Both teams will be in the stadium and then in the city with a large number of fans. And neither team could make it to the final of the Europa League.
Total coffee specialist. Hardcore reader. Incurable music scholar. Web guru. Freelance troublemaker. Problem solver. Travel trailblazer.
