The Allianz Arena Attack was a chemical attack that occurred on July 9, 2024, at the Allianz Arena Stadium in Munich, Germany, during the 2024 UEFA Euros semi-final between Italy and The Netherlands. The attack was orchestrated by Left Wing extremists who planted their chemical weapons in the stadium, weeks before the event so that they would be undetected. The attack caused 82 deaths.
Build Up[]
The 2024 UEFA Euros had began on June 19th in Berlin. The semi-final was to be held in Munich. Italy had qualified for the semi-finals with a 3-1 win over Poland and The Netherlands qualified after winning 5-4 on penalties against Denmark in the quarters. 98% of the stadium was to be filled for the match.
Left Wing extremism had cropped up in Germany at the time and there were fears over possible attacks during the tournament but the German government downplayed the severity of the situation which led to not enough security at the matches to prevent such a large scale attack from occurring. This would prove to be a devastating decision in the long term for the tournament.
The day of the match was the 9th of July. 73,500 tickets had been sold for the match. Exactly half of the stadium had been allocated to Italy fans and the other to Dutch fans. Multiple security recordings of the suspects were released after the attacks, showing the weapons had been stored in the stadium weeks before the match, so that they would be undetected. The seats of the attackers were in the Dutch fan zone behind the Italian net.
Attack[]
The match officially kicked off at 16:30 PM. The attackers didn’t task their seats until about 9 minutes into the match. They planned to wait until the fans had been rallied up until detonating their devices. About 16 minutes in, Steven Bergwijn took a shot from outside the box which hit the crossbar and was cleared by the Italian defence, which caused the crowd to pick up much volume.
As the Italian team were on the counter attack, an audible bang noise came from behind the Italian net in the Dutch fan section. What looked like smoke could be seen rising from 3 different areas of the stand. Initially, it was thought the smoke were flares that had been ignited by fans, but security noticed people struggling to breath and passing out in the stands. Other fans attempted to escape by climbing over the fence between the stand and the pitch. More fans escaped through the exits going back inside the stadium.
By now, all 3 attackers were dead from the chemicals. Other fans had already died, or were dying. As more fans escaped into the pitch by climbing over the fence, or through the gates at the front the fence, German police ordered the players off the pitch at the 21st minute mark. A loud speaker announcement to the whole stadium ordered an immediate evacuation of everyone in the stadium, as police with gas masks surrounded the stands behind the goal.
Escaped fans flooded onto the pitch, guided by the police as others were led out via emergency exits. 12 minutes after initial smoke was spotted, the first ambulance arrived pitch side. Multiple fans had been trampled in the desperate evacuation from the stand. Armed police cleared the whole pitch and the rest of the stadium as the match was cancelled. The bodies of the dead were cleared from the pitch and stand in the hours after.
Aftermath[]
In total, 82 people were killed, 57 of which were from chemical poisoning, including all 3 attackers. Another 25 were asphyxiated or crushed to death. The initial investigation lead to the arrests of 50 extremists and the rest of the tournament was suspended for 3 weeks. 48 people were convicted of terrorism and sentenced to life. The match was officially declared null and void and would be replayed at a different date.
The match was officially replayed on July 30th, in Berlin. A minute of silence was held for the 82 victims before the match. The Netherlands would end up 1-0 victors over the Italians and would go on to beat Spain in the final. They delicates their win to their 82 fans that were killed. The Allianz Arena was closed for 3 months afterwards, leading to Bayern Munich having to play in Berlin for those 3 months. The event also resulted in metal detectors and airport like security at ever football match in European competition afterwards.