Carrying crates of German beer and with St George’s flags draped around their shoulders, England fans took over the city of Berlin by the thousands ahead of the Euro 2024 final.
Even the day before the game there was barely a sidestreet in the German capital where the strains of Three Lions were not echoing from a gaggle of fans who’d made sacrifices to make it to the game.
“We drove 13 hours straight from Calais,” a bleary-eyed reveller shouted to the Express over their shoulder as they disappeared into a mass of supporters outside a popular Irish bar, “but I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Outnumbering the Spanish by around 50 to one, followers of the Three Lions chanted songs in honour of Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka until the early hours of Sunday morning. Then, as the sun rose in the German city, the day of the game kept the party going by downing beers at breakfast time and drinking away the pregame nerves.
A small army of armed German riot police was constantly on hand to watch over the festivities. Supported by a significant number of plain clothes British cops at every location the English had gathered, they were ready to step in should any problems arise. “We are here to watch them and act if they are violent,” one officer eyeballing supporters exiting trains told the Express.
However, there was little cause for their concern before the game as the largely light-touch policing enabled England fans to party without concern. When Spaniards did cross the sea of fans in white on the banks of the river River Spree there was some good-natured humour and disparaging chants about tapas.
Dressed as Crusaders Julian Swann and Matt Hill from Shirely in Birmingham were just two of many who made a last-minute decision to come to Berlin. It had been far from an easy journey and involved them bouncing from Manchester to Amersdam on-route to Germany.
“We paid £1,250 for tickets to the game and I’ve not told the missus, it’s a surprise,” Hill told the Express, “we got a good deal on a hotel £350 for three nights near Berlin city centre, we’re just glad to be here.”
“It’s history,” added his mate Swann, “the first time England has played on foreign soil we had to be here.”
Among those in Berlin was barber Sam Tattersall, 29, from Nottingham, who shaved a red St George’s Cross into his hair, saying: “I thought I’d go for it with the St George’s cross because football’s coming home.”
Rob Cheetham, 24, from Wiltshire, said he had been camping in Essen since the start of the tournament. He said: “I think the amount of times we’ve gone one behind and come back, no matter what happens at the start of the match I’m still going to have hope. Even if we’re losing in the 90th minute, we’ve still got hope that we can bring it back at the end.”
Alfie Bray, 21, a mechanical engineer from Birmingham, had flown from London to Frankfurt and got the train to Berlin.
He and his friend Callum Williams, 21, booked travel to the city as soon as the second goal was scored in the semi-final.
Martin Rafferty, 44, from Birmingham, said he and friends had driven for 15 hours to reach the city despite not having tickets for the final. He said: “It could be a chance of making history.”
