Scots flood Munich for Euro 2024 opener, fan zones overcrowded
A few hours before the opening match of Euro 2024, the Scots took over the streets of Munich. Many members of the Tartan Army — as Scottish soccer fans are called — came to Germany, leading the police to issue a statement about overcrowded fan zones.
Although the opening match of Euro 2024 did not give the Scots any reason to celebrate, they demonstrated how fans know how to have fun a few hours before it. According to Mark Dittmer-Odell, the British consul in Munich, half a million fans from the United Kingdom are heading to Germany for the tournament, of which 200,000 are Scots.
Approximately 15,000 of them were expected to gather on Friday at Marienplatz in the center of Munich. At 9:00 AM ET, the police declared the fan zone was overcrowded. They appealed for some people to leave, and others were not allowed into the area.
The area at Olympiapark was similarly overcrowded, where about 30,000 soccer fans had gathered in front of the big screens.
The Scots also took over German bars. Social media recordings showed how they unashamedly had fun literally "to the point of exhaustion." Their preparations for the match were, of course, accompanied by traditional kilts and bagpipe music.
Scottish fans are called the Tartan Army, named after the fabric used to make kilts. The Tartan Army is known for its friendly attitude towards fans from other countries, except England.
On Friday at 3:00 PM ET, the Scots faced Germany in the opening match of Euro 2024. The match was not fortunate for them, as they were defeated by the hosts 5-1. It was the first of 51 matches in the event, which dates back to 1958.
