England are scheduled to play a last-16 tie in Gelsenkirchen if they win their group and the statement added: “It is clear to us that an urgent and thorough review of arrangements is needed before that event, with lessons learnt and dramatically enhanced provisions put in place. The initial defensive response of authorities locally suggests a complacency out of sync with what was required.”
That was a pointed response to comments made by Both in a press conference on Monday.
He said: “I was at Wembley last year and Wembley Stadium was sold out with 85,000 spectators and I can tell you, I wasn’t back on the train in London 10 minutes after the game from Wembley Stadium. I had to wait a very, very long time in a big crowd but I price that in when I go to an event like this. That’s what most people do.”
Simon Harris, a veteran member of the England Supporters Travel Club and a Conservative member of Shropshire Council who drove to the match, was among those who attended Sunday’s game to cite the fear of crushing.
Harris told Telegraph Sport: “You just had that moment. It’s not good to be funnelling 60,000 people into a narrow gate. You just go, ‘This isn’t sensible’.
“It was exceptionally bad. And the police don’t seem to care. All they needed was somebody to start taking control.”
‘People and children were starting to get crushed’
Others said the station was still packed more than three hours after the game while some fans described it as their “top three most hated places”.
One fan, Jack, said that there were also problems getting to the stadium from the fan zone and “people and children were starting to get crushed and breathless” in the crowds.
“No one listened and people were wanting to get to the game, I had to tell the German police multiple times to open the gates to allow people to walk and find their own way to the match which they eventually did after a lot of pressure from myself and supporters.”
He said that after what would normally have been a 20-minute journey to the stadium took two hours to complete, when fans left it was “absolute carnage”.
“The game finished at 11pm. We left the stadium to absolute carnage. No one telling anyone where they had to go. Massive crowds of families and children. The queues to the tram were nothing I’ve seen before.
“For a major tournament and world-class stadium, I can’t believe how poorly the execution to get people back to the city centre was. Trams that had a capacity of 400 people came every 15 minutes.
“The queues were huge and when the trams did come the utter desperation of people to get on caused chaos and further crushing.
“Uefa seriously need to look into what happened tonight, Gelsenkirchen doesn’t seem fit to host a major European game. They seem to lack the public transportation to cope with 50,000 people trying to get to and from the stadium.”
One family with young children was said to have been left in tears as a result of the chaos.
A spokeswoman for the Football Association said: “We are aware of the issues our fans experienced in Gelsenkirchen last night and will ensure their feedback is passed on to the organisers.”
Uefa, which has come under fire in recent years over the chaos which has engulfed recent Champions League finals, has been approached for comment.
Having once put Britain’s creaking railways to shame, Germany’s own network has itself been thrown into disarray in recent years.
UK police are expecting a record 350,000 England fans to travel out for Euro 2024, while there were an estimated 150,000 Scotland followers in Munich for their opening fixture alone.
Detlef Neuss, chair of Germany’s rail passenger lobby group Pro Bahn, warned such a mass influx would simply lead to “more problems with delayed trains and trains cancelled”.
Uefa’s sustainability strategy for Euro 2024 specifically encourages fans to use public transport to get to matches.