German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser drew positive conclusions from Euro 2024, which ended on Sunday with a Spanish 2-1 win over England, as her ministry reported thousands of offences and some 170 arrests.
"We have experienced the fantastic football festival in the heart of Europe that we all wanted. Our country has presented itself as a good host," Faeser said in a press release.
Germany's federal and state police registered around 2,340 offences relating to the European Championships during the football tournament.
These included around 700 cases of bodily harm, 120 thefts and 200 of trespassing. There were 140 offences of violence against police officers. The police made around 170 arrests, took about 320 people into custody and issued almost 1,000 cautions.
The Interior Ministry said the introduction of border controls proved to be an effective measure. From June 7 to July 15, 1,112 arrest warrants were executed and around 8,300 unauthorized entries were documented. The police prevented more than 100 hooligans from entering the country.
Extending the border controls has become a political issue, with the opposition conservative Christian Democrats and Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition partner, the Free Democrats, coming out in favour of this.
On Sunday, Faeser announced that Germany will impose temporary border controls along its border with France in the runup to the Paris Olympics starting on July 26. But checks introduced along the borders with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg imposed during football championship will be lifted on Friday. Checks will then revert to dragnet controls with targeted checks, as in the past.
Border controls continue to be in place along Germany's borders with Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland with the aim of countering irregular migration and combating people-trafficking.
As for the football competition, the previously feared major clashes with hooligans did not occur. Although hooligans were on site, the presence of federal and state police officers and, above all, robust riot police forces largely prevented any attempts to commit acts of violence.
The fact that offenders were threatened with a stadium ban in their home countries in the event of criminal offences during the tournament in Germany also proved to be a deterrent.
The Federal Police alone had 22,000 officers on duty every day during the tournament, making it the largest operation in their history. Around 2.6 million people watched the 51 matches in the 10 stadiums and around 6 million people visited the fan zones.
Faeser said the strong security measures had worked in all areas. "There were significantly fewer security incidents and criminal offences than our security authorities had expected for an event with millions of people. The very high police presence throughout the country was the main reason for this."
"Many images of this summer in our cities will remain unforgettable," she added.
Football could "of course not solve the problems of our time, but in these weeks it has created a sense of community that has done us good as a society," she said.
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