Category Archives: European Championship

German police admit to ‘blind spot’ over possible violence at England v Serbia

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2016 Euros was last tournament where people could travel freely, making it hard to judge how current fans will behave

German police have spoken of concerns about an intelligence gap in the level of aggression of the latest generation of England football fan, as supporters gather in Germany for the first post-Covid Euros.

England’s Sunday evening tie against Serbia in their first game of Euro 2024 has been designated as “high risk” due to a heightened threat of violence between two groups of supporters with a history of thuggery.

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Dozens of Wales fans arrested in Armenia before Euro 2024 qualifier

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Foreign Office says it is supporting families after 32 Wales football fans arrested in Yerevan

More than 30 Wales football fans have been arrested in Armenia before Saturday’s European Championship qualifier in Yerevan.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) confirmed that 32 supporters had been arrested in the Armenian capital and that the Foreign Office was involved.

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England fan disorder at Euro 2020 final almost led to deaths, review finds

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  • Casey report refers to series of ‘near misses’ at Wembley
  • It also points to planning failures on day of ‘national shame’

Unprecedented disorder at the Euro 2020 final was a “near miss”, with deaths and life-changing injuries only narrowly avoided, according to an independent report into events described as a “national shame”.

Lady Louise Casey published her 129-page review on Friday into the incidents that overwhelmed Wembley stadium on 11 July. While she concludes that primary blame for the mass of public disorder must lie with the protagonists, there is also blame for both the FA and the police, whom she says were too slow to respond to trouble that began early in the day.

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England hit with stadium fan ban for Wembley disorder

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  • Uefa rules on ugly scenes at Euro 2020 final in July
  • No England fans to be allowed at Nations League game

England will be forced to play behind closed doors at Wembley after the Football Association was punished for a “lack of order and discipline” in and around the national stadium during the Euro 2020 final.

Alongside a two-match crowd ban, with the second suspended for a probationary period of two years, Uefa ordered the Football Association to pay a fine of €100,000 (£84,500). The ban will come into effect on England’s next competitive Uefa fixture, which is set to be the opening home game of their 2022-23 Nations League campaign.

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‘A lasting legacy of tolerance’: Marcus Rashford messages to be preserved

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Notes left on defaced Manchester mural will be removed to protect from rain, amid plans for digital exhibition

Thousands of messages left on the mural of footballer Marcus Rashford in Manchester will be removed and preserved on Friday, to protect them from forecasted rain this weekend.

A team of archivists and conservators will detach the tributes so they are preserved for future generations to mark the national moment of solidarity that followed the mural being defaced and a torrent of racist abuse was targeted at the player on social media, as well as England teammates Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho.

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Manchester shows support for Marcus Rashford: ‘It’s evolved into something special’

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Community comes together to back England footballer and oppose racism after mural was defaced

“We’re going to take the knee like the footballers do,” said Nahella Ashraf, leading a crowd of at least 300 people in performing the anti-racism gesture in front of the freshly repainted mural of Marcus Rashford on Tuesday evening.

Ashraf, a member of Manchester Stand Up to Racism, said she aimed to show “we are the majority” after the mural was defaced in the wake of England’s Euro 2020 final defeat.

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Euro 2020: abuse of England players condemned as Rashford mural vandalised – live!

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Police are investigating the vandalism of the Marcus Rashford mural in Withington.

Chief Superintendent Paul Savill, of GMP’s City of Manchester division, said: “This is disgraceful behaviour and will absolutely not be tolerated.

“Greater Manchester prides itself on being made up from a number of diverse communities and hate crime in any form is completely unacceptable and not welcome here in our city.

Right, Simon Burnton is back with you – I’ll see you again in a little bit.

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‘Mancini has been absolutely wonderful’: praise for manager as Rome unites behind Italy

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Italy fans came to tournament with low expectations, but their team’s unity and focus have impressed

Celebrations erupted across Italy as the national football team secured their win in the Euro 2020 final after a tense penalty shoot-out.

“It’s a unique emotion,” said Vincenzo Francavilla. “There’s such a big love for Italy.”

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Euro 2020: buildup to Italy v England final – live!

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Here’s a thing: if England get a penalty today, what will Harry Kane do (assuming he is not too injured by his fall to take it...). His spotkick against Denmark was awful, though the rebound favoured him. He explained afterwards that he intended to send it high but, for some reason, didn’t connect properly and his shot travelled low. The obvious explanation for that uncharacteristic miss is that he was under more pressure than ever before. As one of the figureheads of his country, the pressure is more intense on him than almost anyone else. L’Equipe today carried an interview with Geir Jordet, a Norwegian researcher who has studied the history of penalty-taking at tournament (club and international) as far back as 1976 and he has found that as a player’s status rises, his efficiency of penalties falls: “When a player has become an international superstar, he only scores from 65% of his attempts, compared to 90% before he reaches that status (especially by winning an individual award [ such as the Golden Boot]),” says Jordet. Golly. Maybe if today’s game goes to a shootout, England should bring on Aaron Ramsdale, if only to take one.

The pubs are open in England .... pace yourselves, drinkers! Brace yourselves, everyone else.

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Danish woman claims assault by England fans after semi-final

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• Woman had hair pulled by ‘six or seven’ England fans

• Also claims of Denmark fans being spat on at Wembley

A Denmark supporter who attended Wednesday’s Euro 2020 semi-final at Wembley says she was physically assaulted by England fans as she made her way home after the game.

Jeanette Jorgensen, who has lived in west London for 15 years, went with three cousins after obtaining tickets through the Danish Football Association (DBU).

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Sing when you’re winning – take our Euro 2020 football anthems quiz

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Do you know your Ant from your Dec and your Three Lions from your Atomic Kitten? Find out with our tricky and slightly silly quiz

They are the soundtrack to our summers of joy and despair. The songs that accompany the moments when our hearts soar as goals go in, and break as crucial penalties are missed. But how much do you know about the football tournament anthems that fans sing with such glee? Find out with our football anthems quiz – getting full marks is going to be harder than getting a ticket for Wembley on Sunday. But remember, it is just for fun, and unlike the forthcoming Italy v England Euro 2020 final, there are no prizes.

The Guardian Euro 2020 football anthems quiz

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What’s in the England team’s names? English Heritage explains all

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St George’s flags featuring surnames of almost every person in England will fly from heritage sites to cheer on team

Harry Kane can trace his surname back to a word for “warrior”. Declan Rice to “impetuous”. Kieran Trippier to “dance”. Kyle Walker will have to make do with “trampler of cloth in a bath of lye” which, to be fair, was once a very important job.

English Heritage is getting in the football spirit by revealing the origins of the names of the England players. It will also fly a St George’s flag featuring the surname of almost every person living in England at its properties to help cheer on the team before Sunday’s Euro 2020 final against Italy.

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Football’s coming to Rome? Italy fans look to Wembley showdown

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Italians are excited for the Euro 2020 final against England: ‘If we play with the heart, we will win’

Tens of thousands of English football fans at Wembley tried to send a message to Italy on Wednesday night: Sunday’s Euro 2020 final will be hell for the Azzurri. Italians heard the deafening cheers of the home support loud and clear, but that chant, “It’s coming home”, screamed at the top of English lungs does not seem to have affected them greatly. They are far from intimidated.

“It’s coming home? Maybe the English fans meant ‘it’s coming to Rome’,” said Giovanni Mapelli, 14, from Monticello Brianza, near Milan, who plays for a local football team. Since England won a place in the final, he and his brother have been mocking his England-born-and-raised mother.

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England face Uefa censure after laser pointer shone at Kasper Schmeichel

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  • Disciplinary proceedings opened after Euro 2020 semi-final
  • England also charged over booing of Danish anthem

Uefa has charged England after a laser pointer was shone in the face of the Denmark goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, as he was about to face Harry Kane’s penalty in Wednesday’s Euro 2020 semi-final at Wembley.

Schmeichel saved the penalty but Kane scored from the rebound to set up England’s 2-1 victory and book a place in Sunday’s final against Italy.

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‘Southgate You’re the One’: social media reacts to England’s win

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Fans share jokes and clips including a stadium rendition of Whole Again and mocking Boris Johnson’s shirt

As sure as night follows day, social media memes follow a big sporting event, and so England fans on Wednesday night enjoyed sharing jokes and clips of events around the Euro 2020 semi-final win almost as much as the victory itself.

Mason Mount was showered with praise after this video clip of him giving his shirt to a young girl in the Wembley crowd took off on social media. Her emotional reaction summed up how many England fans must have felt after such a long wait to reach a major tournament final again.

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England beat Denmark in extra time to set up Euro 2020 final with Italy

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Sometimes, your luck is just in, you catch a break when you most need it and, after so much major tournament semi-final heartache, England finally got something to go their way and, in the process, one of these suffocatingly high-tension encounters to follow suit.

The 90 minutes had been nerve-shredding, England forced to find a response to Mikkel Damsgaard’s stunning 25 yard free-kick on the half-hour, which they did when Bukayo Saka’s cross, intended for Raheem Sterling, was bundled over Denmark’s goal-line by their captain, Simon Kjær.

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Italy v Spain: Euro 2020 semi-final – live!

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8 min: Spain aren’t dealing particularly well with Italy’s high press at the moment. Busquets, Garcia and Azpilicueta take turns to hesitate over clearances, nearly allowing the livewire Verratti in on a couple of occasions. Verratti is snapping away at their heels like billy-o. It’s very impressive, though you already get the sense he’s one mistimed lunge away from trouble.

6 min: Spain get a foot on the ball for the first time in the match, and stroke it around the back awhile. Italy’s fans give them the bird. All good pantomime stuff.

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‘More than a game’: Euros delirium in Denmark despite UK travel setback

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Nation with Hans Christian Andersen-inspired football song is hoping for fairytale win against England

People dancing on buses is not something you see every day in Denmark. Rule-abiding Danes tend to keep their celebrations low-key – but not this summer.

Football fans brought traffic to a standstill in Aarhus after Denmark beat the Czech Republic in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals and even scaled public transport to broadcast their euphoria and belt out another round of Re-sepp-ten – first a hit for Denmark’s national team at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. The anthem’s crowd-sourced lyrics are laden with Hans Christian Andersen imagery and feel particularly apt this year.

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All roads lead to Rome for England’s ardent army of expat fans

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Foreign-based fans slept in cars and even planned marriage proposals to be at the scene of Euro 2020 quarter final

They came from Berne, Berlin, Luxembourg and Dubai, some forgoing a night’s sleep as they drove across the Alps or took red-eye flights. Some of the more ardent football fans bought tickets two years ago; others bagged them in the last-minute rush that followed England’s historic win over Germany on Tuesday.

They were rewarded with an extraordinary, emphatic, exhilarating 4-0 victory over Ukraine, and those inside the stadium sang till their voices gave out.

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