Turkey and Georgia fans clashed inside Signal Iduna Park (Reuters)
Turkey and Georgia fans clashed inside Signal Iduna Park ahead of their Euro 2024 match on Tuesday.
Security staff were forced to intervene around 70 minutes before kick off as the two sets of supporters started throwing punches at each other.
Objects were also thrown before anti-riot police stepped in and stood between the fans, which diffused the situation.
Meanwhile, fans sitting in the east stand were forced to temporarily relocate before kick off as a heavy downpour caused water to spill over from the roof to the seats below.
Stadium staff were out in full force by the side of the pitch clearing the water with brooms.
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Stadium stewards initially stepped in to ease the tension between fans (Reuters)
Punches were thrown between the two sets of supporters (Shutterstock)
German anti-riot police stepped in to diffuse the situation (AFP via Getty)
Water cascaded down from the room at Signal Iduna Park after a heavy downpour before kick off (Reuters)
Some seats were soaked from the heavy rain (Reuters)
Staff were pushing water into drains with brooms (Reuters)
Turkey’s fixture against Georgia is the opening game in Group F, with Portugal due to play Czech Republic in the other match on Tuesday evening.
The game is a historical one for Georgia as it is their first-ever match at a European Championship.
Georgia qualified for this summer’s tournament after beating Greece in the play-offs in March.
‘For some players after the March play-offs it has been a bit difficult to get back into their daily routine because they have lots of emotions and they had a feeling they were living a dream but the dream has to stop at some point and they have to focus again,’ said Georgia head coach Willy Sagnol.
‘It’s something we talked about with the players at the start of the camp. At the beginning of the camp it was difficult but now the players are ready for the competition and focus on their performance and their discipline.’
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