With Euro 2024 now just four months away, UEFA has met with football fans across Europe at the EURO 2024 Fan Forum. The forum was organised by Football Supporters Europe, Koordinationsstelle Fanprojekt (KOS), as fans across the continent make their final preparations for the tournament in Germany.
Over 100 representatives from fan groups attended the meetings with UEFA officials and they were all encouraged to give their perspectives on a variety of issues to influence preparations for the tournament. The Forum also welcomed hosting stakeholders to the meeting so they could discover what they need to do to ensure travelling fans feel safe and welcome across the ten host cities.
Euro 2024 Fan Forum: Getting to know the host cities
A key part of the Euro 2024 Fan Forum saw Fans' Embassies, National Associations, local police from host cities, and representatives from host cities meet to enable fans to understand the host cities better, particularly those where their teams are set to play.
This was a two-way meeting, where police and local representatives outlined their expectations in terms of what they would and wouldn't tolerate from supporters and where fans outlined what they would need in order to be able to enjoy their time at Euro 2024 safely.
Fan groups spoke about the different experiences they'd had at other tournaments in terms of what had gone well and what hadn't in the hope of Euro 2024 representatives taking the information on board ahead of the tournament.
Football Supporters Europe, Coordinator, Jussi Hartikainen was at the Euro 2024 Fan Forum and he said afterwards:
“With the tournament only months away now, you cannot put a value on how beneficial an event like this is for preparations from a Fans’ Embassies perspective. To have several stakeholders, whose planning will have an impact on attending fans, all under one roof for three days is essential to providing a good base from which the Fans’ Embassies can begin their own preparations.
“Connections have been made and core communications lines established that will help in supporting fans and ensure they have access to the information they need once they have arrived in Germany.”
EURO 2024 Fan Froum: What's next?
Although the fan forum is now concluded, fan preparation for Euro 2024 is still ongoing. In the coming weeks and months, FSE and fan groups will visit the host cities in Germany. Fans will be encouraged to visit the cities where their nations are set to play in the group stages so they can get a better feel and understanding of where they will be based for a couple of weeks.
KOS Project Manager, Phillip Beitzel, has said that he is “looking forward to further exchanges with various stakeholders” and that he is confident in KOS' ability to “create optimal conditions for fans in Germany.” He added:
“The Fan Forum provided a good opportunity to initiate communication early on among all network partners. This ensures that the perspective of the fans who will be coming to Germany for the EURO is integrated into the host cities.”