Football clash of the titans: Gelsenkirchen eagerly anticipates the Spain v Italy match
Second group stage match of the European Championship takes place on Thursday
When the Spanish La Furia Roja takes on the Italian Squadra Azzurra at 21:00 on Thursday, 20 June, in the Arena AufSchalke, it promises to be a top-tier football classic. “Spain have won the European Championship three times and the World Cup once, while Italy have claimed the World Cup four times and are the current European Champions. Two of the greats will thus be facing off in the Arena. We couldn't have wished for better luck for our city”, enthuses Wilhelm Weßels, Head of the Gelsenkirchen EURO 2024 Office, talking about this special match.
It will be an action-packed event, not just on the pitch but also on the stage in the Fan Zone in Nordsternpark, in the amphitheatre, and at the Fan Meeting Points in Buer and on Heinrich-König-Platz in the city centre.
The Fan Meeting Point at Heinrich-König-Platz will open for Italian fans before and after the game. From 11:00 a.m., DJ Marcus Büchler and host Marco Serra will be on hand to create a lively atmosphere for the Tifosi. After the match, Heinrich-König-Platz will reopen as a gathering place for fans.
Sankt-Urbanus-Kirchplatz in Buer will serve as the Fan Meeting Point for Spanish fans. DJ and host Frank Nemeth will guide supporters through the programme. The live act is “RUMBACOUSTIC – And the audience gets part”. The Fan Meeting Point Buer will also open from 11:00 a.m.
Around 10,000 Italian and Spanish fans are expected. Spanish fans have purchased around 6,000 tickets in their home country, while approximately 3,500 tickets have been sold to Tifosi in Italy. About 700 people will be staying at the specially prepared pop-up campsites at Revierpark Nienhausen and Zeche Ewald on the day of the match.
Wilhelm Weßels was already very satisfied with the security situation during the group match between England and Serbia, and he believes Gelsenkirchen is well-prepared for this classic football encounter as well: “The deployment plan of the Municipal Public Order Office and the city’s traffic surveillance has proven effective. On this match day, there will once again be a strong and continuous presence from 8am to 1am around the Arena AufSchalke, the Fan Zone, the Fan Meeting Points, and in the city centres. A total of over 140 personnel will be on duty”, said Weßels. “As points of contact, the personnel are also part of the welcoming culture in our city”, emphasises the Head of the EURO Office. The fire brigade and rescue services are also well-prepared. Around the first group match in the Arena, there were only eight minor incidents. “I hope there will also be very few incidents on the second match day”, said Weßels.
From a police perspective, preparations for the next UEFA EURO 2024™ match in the Arena AufSchalke are proceeding effectively. “Our forces will once again be out in strength, not only throughout the city but especially around the stadium, to ensure the safety of both local and visiting fans. We are well-prepared and ready for this next special match”, said Police Chief Superintendent Peter Both.
Numerous police officers will ensure that interactions between different fan groups run as smoothly and disruption-free as possible. “The Gelsenkirchen police are looking forward to an exciting and peaceful match. Celebrating and cheering are expressly encouraged, but we urge everyone to stick to the rules”, Both added.
Overall, Jörg Konietzka, City of Gelsenkirchen Mobility Coordinator EURO 2024, is also satisfied with the implementation of the traffic concept following the first group match: “There were no major issues at the main train station. The platforms were full, but passengers were generally able to board the next arriving train.”
The English fans mostly found accommodation along the Rhine corridor, as their other group matches are being held in Cologne and Frankfurt. With regard to the Spain v Italy match, the Mobility Coordinator expects different travel patterns from the stadium visitors: “Since they are travelling from all over Germany, there won't be a focus on one region, which will help distribute traffic flows better.”
Nevertheless, the services of Ruhrbahn will be expanded and optimised. For the return journey, seven trams from Essen to the Arena on Line 107 will offer additional services towards Essen Central Station. Additionally, four buses will be provided to ease the load, with routes to Essen and Gelsenkirchen Central Station. “This will allow us to offer journeys to Essen even beyond 1am”,explained Konietzka.
The concept at the Arena has also been optimised based on the experiences gained, as large crowds headed to the Willy-Brandt-Allee tram stop. A newly constructed on-demand bus stop will be used to keep the tram stop free of departing passengers. “Sixteen articulated buses will be available to collect passengers there, eliminating the need for empty tram trips from the Arena to Willy-Brandt-Allee”, said Konietzka, describing another optimisation. A total of 58 additional buses will be in service on match day.
For those without a ticket to the stadium who still want to watch the matches with other football enthusiasts, the large party arena in the Fan Zone at Nordsternpark, which can accommodate 6,000 guests, is the place to be. All 51 matches will be shown here. On Thursday, there are three matches: Slovenia v Serbia at 15:00 in Munich, Denmark v England at 18:00 in Frankfurt, and of course, Spain v Italy in Gelsenkirchen at 21:00.
The Fan Zone and amphitheatre will open at 13:00. Marco Kochbeck will be the host on the Fan Zone stage. The programme starts at 14:00 with the popular GE EM-Talk show featuring Jörg Seveneik and his guests, which will continue between matches and during halftime. One of the guests will be Schalke CFO Christina Rühl-Hamers. The matches will be shown on five screens with a total surface area of nearly 200 square metres.
Where the Strykers are, good vibes are not far behind. The young party band with roots in Gelsenkirchen will liven up the Fan Zone from 17:00. They will perform again around 20:00.
In the amphitheatre, Dirk Oberschulte-Beckmann and Timo Düngen will act as hosts. On stage will be DJ Flimmy, who has worked as a DJ, entertainer, host, and bingo caller in Cologne for over 10 years and recently moved to Klettenberg.
FACTS and FIGURES
Matches
Thursday, 20 June: Spain v Italy
Wednesday, 26 June: Georgia v Portugal
Sunday, 30 June: Round of 16 match
Kick-off is always at 21:00, with the Round of 16 match at 18:00.
Fan Zone
•The Fan Zone at Nordsternplatz is open between 14 June and 14 July on a total of 26 days - generally from two hours before the day’s first game. All 51 games are being shown here.
•Over 200 hours of entertainment is being offered in the Nordsternpark Fan Zone.
•The acts appearing in the Fan Zone include Leony (9 July), Welshly Arms (6 July), Alle Farben (10 July), KAMRAD (28 June), ESC entrant Isaak (5 July), Eko Fresh (12 July), You not Us (14 July), plus also local bands, such as the FLORIANS (16 June).
•The Fan Zone on Nordsternplatz and the amphitheatre each have capacity for nearly 6,000 people.
•The matches are being shown on a total of five screens with a total surface area of nearly 200 square metres.
•The area’s total capacity is over 200,000 across the four weeks.
•The games shown in the amphitheatre will be all those played in Gelsenkirchen, all the Germany games, the two semi-finals and the final.
•Entry is free.
Fan Meeting Points
•On match days the two Fan Meeting Points can hold up to 8,000 fans – Fan Meeting Point City 5,000 and Fan Meeting Point Buer 3,000.
•They will open on group-stage match days at 11am. They will close c. 30 minutes before kick-off. The Fan Meeting Point City will open again after the games from 10.30pm to 1am.
•For the round of 16 match the Fan Meeting Points will be open earlier, from 9am. The Fan Meeting Point City will open again after the game from 7.30pm to 10pm.
•On the days when there is no game in Gelsenkirchen the Fan Meeting Points will act as pop-up beer gardens and open from 4pm to 10pm. Capacity: c. 1,000
•Entry is free.
Fan Services
Five additional Info Points are being installed around the city for fans, visitors and residents. Among the things available here are the EURO Guides in English, which contain all key information relating to the match day.
•Fan Zone
•Fan Meeting Point City
•Fan Meeting Point Buer
•Gelsenkirchen main station
•Bus station / Buer town hall
At the Fan Meeting Points there will also be fan embassies provided by the supporters’ associations of England, Spain, Italy and Georgia.
On Gelsenkirchen match days, the City is offering a free luggage storage service near to the main station.
Getting around
•25,000 people are set to be transported by buses and trams – half the stadium capacity. To achieve this, the transport operators are utilising 45 trams and over 50 buses to ensure the carrying of passengers between Arena, Fan Zone, racecourse and the two city centres.
•All visitors are requested to travel to and around the area by public transport wherever possible. In addition to the normal scheduled services, extra shuttles will make it easy to reach the Fan Zone, Fan Meeting Points and, on match days, the Arena too.
Camping
On the campsites at Revierpark Nienhausen and Zeche Ewald in Herten there is space each day for up to 2,000 people and 130 camper vans.
The whole supporting programme for UEFA EURO 2024™ is at:
uefaeuro2024.gelsenkirchen.de/events [uefaeuro2024.gelsenkirchen.de]