UEFA Euro 2024
Semi Final
England v Holland
BVB Stadion Dortmund
Dortmund, Germany
10 Jul 2024
The Semi Final programme is excellent with 98 pages of gloss and colour, plus a special feature on the 2 teams route to the Semi Final at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund
ESTC tickets for this game were in high demand with a final allocation of 7255 (255 above the expected total) and 2684 of these seats were available as Fans First tickets priced at 80 Euros. A total of 12849 members had pre-registered for this game so just under half of these would miss out and with so many Dutch in the city tickets from touts will be through the roof. I suppose there is always 3rd party ticket sites.
The BVB Stadion Dortmund Arena is known as the Signal Iduna Park. It is an iconic stadium with a huge capacity of 81,365 (standing and seated) and has the largest capacity in Germany. The 'Yellow Wall' in the Südtribüne alone, has a capacity of 24,454 and is the largest standing terrace in Europe. Sadly the capacity for the Euros has been reduced to 62,000. The stadium has hosted many important games over the years, including 4 Group games at the 1974 FIFA World Cup (Zaire 0 Scotland 2, Holland 0 Sweden 0, Bulgaria 1 Holland 4 and Holland 2 Brazil 0). At the 2006 FIFA World Cup it hosted 4 Group Stage matches (Trinidad & Tobago 0 Sweden 0, Germany 1 Poland 0, Togo 0 Switzerland 2, Japan 1 Brazil 4. During the Knockout Phase it hosted the Round of 16 match between Brazil and Ghana (3:0) and the semi final between Italy and Germany (2:0). It also held some big club matches, including the 1993 UEFA Cup Final 1st leg between Juventus and Dortmund and the 2001 UEFA Cup Final between Liverpool and Alaves .
During Euro 24 BVB Stadion Dortmund hosted 4 Group games: Italy v Albania (2-1), Turkey v Georgia (3-1), Turkey v Portugal (0-3) and France v Poland (1-1). It also hosted the Round of 16 match between Germany and Denmark (2-0) and this Semi Final between England and Holland (2-1)
Attendance: 60,926
Who else would be on the front cover but Bakayo Saka? After his amazing equaliser against the Swiss and then his cool penalty conversion as England dispatched all 5 of their penalties with aplomb to send us through to the Semi Finals
Day 1 Arrival and Dortmund Hbf
Outside the Hbf there is this giant poster of 'Der Manschaft', they have clearly forgot to tell the locals that Germany were knocked out by the Spanish 3 days ago in Stuttgart
After navigating the short distance on the U41 from the Hbf to Dortmund Hörde I arrive at Rudieger's place at Hochofenstrasse 26
Rudiger is proper old school and gave me a good brief on the local area. The house is also a traditional house dating back to when coal and steel were the mainstay of the area
A truly uncomfortable suite but at least I was able to relax watching the 1st semi final between Spain and France on TV
After a orientating myself I take a short walk to the former blast furnace factory on the site of Phoenix-West
On the site there is a fantastic craft ale brewery called Bergmann. The IPA was superb and I also met some English (Villa lads) that I ended up spending the evening with
Duncan Smith in the middle and Stuart on the left
Day 2: Phoenix des Lumieres and a Dortmund refresher
A Huttenmann (supervisor at the blast furnace) in 1953.
In 1843 Hermann Dietrich Piepenstock, one of the main steel manufacturers in the west of the Kingdom of Prussia, moved to Dortmund Hörde to create this former blast furnace, reservoir and rolling mill.
The infrastructure from old furnaces
The site was transferred into a cultural space and in 2022 the management of the site was handed over to the French company 'Culturespaces' and renamed 'Phoenix Des Lumieres ' the exhibition I saw consisted of 3 acts: 'Dali: The Endless Enigma', 'Gaudi: Architect of the Imaginary' and '3 Movements'. TBH it was really amazing
The beginning of 'Dali' emphasises the origins of the site
A still shot from 'Gaudi' act showing the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
I'm guessing that Rüdiger is a BVB Dortmund fan
Phoenix Lake is an artificial lake on the site of the former Phoenix-East steelworks
This Thomas-Converter from 1954, popularly known as the 'Thomas Pear' is a reminder of the industrial origins of the site of Phoenix Lake. The converter was used to refine Pig Iron.
View from the top of Phoenix Lake just prior to me embarking on my E-Scooter ride around the lake
Burg Hörde is a museum and castle with views of the lake sadly I had no time to explore it
It is blazing hot this afternoon as I step off the U-Bahn at Stadtgarten and enter the Fan Zone at Friedensplatz
Florian Wirtz is a local boy from Nord Rhein Westphalia born in Pulheim just NE of Cologne
I stopped off at Zum Alten Markt to get some lunch. The restaurant is on the Alte Markt. For lunch I had 'Dortmunder Rosenkraz', a grilled sausage curled in a circle with onion-bacon roasted potatoes, it was delightful.
Directly opposite the pub is the 'Blaserbrunnen' which is a famous Dortmund landmark. It is a brass fountain depicting a travelling medieval musician or Horn blower.
The Flying Rhinos are a symbol of Dortmund and they are all over the city. I think there are 120 or so
The Reinoldkirche (St Reinold's Church) is a lovely church which dominates the old market and is the oldest in the city built between 1250-70, at the crossing of the Hellweg which was the historic trading route between Cologne and Bremen
The view from the top is amazing and nobody else seems to have worked out how to get up here
The lovely attendant just gave me the keys to the tower and I walked up on my own. The only one there😀
The BVB Stadion Dortmund is just visible in the background
An old bell damaged during WWII and replaced later during the reconstruction
St Petri is one of 4 medieval churches in the west of Dortmund's city centre. The church is very famous because it has the valuable and largest medieval Flemish winged altar, known as the 'Golden Wonder'
During Euro 24 the Golden side of the altar was on display which is very unusual as it is normally only open from 1st October until Holy Week and between Easter and Pentecost
A maze had been created from stones to enable viewers to contemplate, as they move closer to view the altar
Westenhellweg - a modern take on an ancient trading route
Just got my Free Lions
The entrance to the city from the main station (Hbf Dortmund)
DORTMUND
The Green Carpet leads from the Main Station to the Stadium and takes about 40 minutes
The Winged Rhino near the Stadion U-Bahn
The other one is a Danish Rhino
Steinerner Turm was part of the medieval defence system of Dortmund and controlled the long distance ancient trade route between Dortmund and Cologne (part of the Westphalian Hellweg).
24 hours before the 2nd Euro 24 Semi Final the stadium is peaceful on a blazing hot afternoon
But the beer garden is open
Everything is closed including the BVB Museum and Shop so I settle for some photos
More Euro 24 Big Balls
Big Steve reporting from Dortmund
Day 3: Matchday and Steinwache
Steinwache just a short walk away from Dortmund Hbf is a former Police Station and Jail. It was originally built in the final years of the Weimar Republic (1926) but by 1933 which saw the rise of National Socialism, it was commandeered by the Gestapo who incarcerated the "enemies of the state"
The building is 5 stories tall and consists of many different rooms, including prison cells, torture rooms, isolation chambers and interrogation rooms
Video of the prison
Political prisoners/communists, homosexuals, Jews, Poles were all imprisoned here, some on a more temporary basis before being moved on to concentration camps
Steinwache cell in 1938
Tools of the Gestapo's trade in torture
After that sobering visit I returned to the centre of Dortmund, only to be blinded by a sea of Orange as thousands of Dutch fans started arriving from across the border
The Dutch are in town early and are saving seats for their mates and generally hogging everything
I do hope we beat these!
The Alte Markt has turned Orange
Reinoldkirche bears witness to the invasion and I make my decision to leave Dortmund and head to Hörde
Having a pint with Stan Gardner at the Poststübchen
Team photo at the Poststübchen on Dortmund-Hörde
+ Stan
Rams on tour
After sprinting to get the train at Dortmund Hörde we arrived at the stadium just in time for a mini rain storm
High 5
The Northern Gate
After kicking someone out of my seat, in position with 20 minutes to KO
Euro 24 anthem
Respecting the Dutch anthem 😇
The Yellow Wall in the Südtribune has turned Orange
East Stand
West Stand
Daz Baily (Bails) from Stockport
The Dutch scored on 7 minutes with a great goal from Simon but failed to capitalise more on a slow start by England. Harry Kane equalised from the penalty spot on 18 mins following a foul on Kane has was shooting for goal. At HT it is Holland 1 England 1 and the Orange wall is very quiet and being totally out sung by the English hoard
The party is getting started
My new bezza
Ollie Watkins scores a peach of a goal on 90 minutes to put England 2:1 up, preventing the contest going into Extra Time and the dreaded penalty shoot out
Don't take me home
A celebratory pint on the concourse
Party on the concourse with the band
Meeting up with the boys from London (Smudge, Palace Paul, Watford Paul, Gary and Jamie)
Leaving the BVB Stadion in full celebratory mood
Day 4: The ICE train from Dortmund to Berlin
How we got there I don't know,
how we got there I don't care,
all I know is England's on their way,
On our way- on our way,
to Berlin we're on our way
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