Dortmund, Germany (AP) — The match between Germany and Denmark resumed after being interrupted by a thunderstorm during their European Championship round of 16 match on Saturday.
The two teams resumed play 24 minutes into the match, after referee Michael Oliver decided to replace the two teams, after a short warm-up session. No puddles of water appeared, but after the match resumed, some pieces of grass began to fall and the players slipped.
The match ended in a goalless draw in the 35th minute when the referee decided to replace the players in light of the heavy rain, strong winds and frequent lightning strikes near the Westphalia Stadium. A loud explosion was heard across the field shortly before the players were replaced.
Hail was even falling on the field during the break in stark contrast to the previously warm summer evening.
An announcement on the stadium screens read: “Due to adverse weather conditions, the match has been stopped. We will provide you with more information soon.”
Fans moved in the front rows of the stadium’s famous south stand under a blanket while the storm poured torrents of rain onto their seats and water poured from the edge of the roof. Some German fans sang: “Oh, how beautiful”, and a few Danish fans danced in a torrent of water falling on their terrace area.
Local police said two big-screen viewing parties at local fan zones had been cancelled due to the weather. Police wrote on X: “Please leave these locations.”
The winner will play Spain or Georgia in the quarter-finals on July 5.
Extreme weather events have been a much more regular problem for the organisers of the European Championship and UEFA than they have been for FIFA and the World Cup.
In 2008, hosts Switzerland played a group stage match against Turkey in heavy rain in Basel in the first half. Puddles in the Turkish goal helped Switzerland take the lead as the ball got stuck in standing water for Hakan Yakin to score.
The rain stopped and the puddles largely disappeared by the end of the first half, but St Jakob-Park only lasted one more match – another wet match between Switzerland and Portugal – before it had to be repaved before the quarter-finals.
Reports at the time said that the process of bringing new grass from the Netherlands cost UEFA 200,000 euros ($214,000).
Heavy rain affected another team co-hosting Euro 2012. Ukraine’s match against France in Donetsk was stopped after just five minutes of play by referee Björn Kuipers. Just when it looked like the teams would return the following day to resume play at the Donbass Arena, the rain subsided and the teams resumed play after a 56-minute stoppage.
The impact on the television broadcast meant the subsequent match that day – Sweden v England in Kiev – was postponed by 15 minutes.
In France, a Euro 2016 match was stopped for several minutes due to a hailstorm in Lyon, with Northern Ireland and Ukraine players leaving the pitch in the 58th minute.
A UEFA Euro 2016 stadium got a new planted pitch in the Netherlands ahead of the quarter-finals after weeks of persistent rain and little sunshine in Lille.
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Geir Moulson in Berlin and Graham Dunbar in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this report.
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Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/Euro-2024
