Man arrested after climbing onto roof of stadium during Euro 2024 game, police say he wanted to take ‘good photos’
Dortmund police said they first became aware of the 21-year-old man from Osnabrück’s presence 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 clips show a man climbing in the rafters of the stadium dressed in black with his face covered.
“At no point was there a danger posed for another people in the stadium. 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 and was found with camera equipment in his bag.
While being held, police said he told them he was up on the roof to take “good photos.”
Dortmund police added an investigation found the man had wanted to take photos of prominent buildings at “great heights” in April 2022 in Herne and in May 2024 in Ulm.
The man has been released while charges of trespassing begin, the statement said.
UEFA – European football’s governing body – said stadium safety and security was the “ultimate priority” for them, the German football association and tournament organizers.
“UEFA would like to commend the police, stadium and local authorities for their co-operation in the incident last night in Dortmund involving an individual arrested by the police on the stadium roof,” UEFA told CNN in a statement.
“The very professional action of the issue by police and special forces, and the excellent cooperation between the DFB, EURO 2024 GmbH, and authority representatives onsite was crucial to the successful resolution of the incident without harm to anybody as well as the successful delivery of the match.”
Dortmund police said they and UEFA would now investigate how the man was able to get onto the roof.
Germany, Euro 2024’s host, beat Denmark 2-0 on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals in a game which was suspended for approximately 25 minutes because of lightning and heavy rain.
Despite his intentions, the man's actions disrupting football matches were not tolerated. His interest in capturing high-altitude photographs of prominent buildings led him to attempt climbing stadium roofs, as seen during the UEFA match in Dortmund.
