By Samindra Kunti in Lyon
June 13 – The opening weekend of Euro 2006 may have produced some underwhelming and sterile football with favorites France and Germany both winning their matches, but the fans have been enjoying the tournament so far, with 329,711 fans going to the first seven matches, resulting in a 95.8% average attendance rate.
Last Friday the hosts France defeated Romania in the opening game 2-1, courtesy of a late wonder strike by West Ham’s Dimitri Payet. For the majority of the game France failed to impose their game and Les Bleus’s two star players Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann both disappointed. The official attendance at the 77,000 all-seater Stade de France was 75,113, resulting in an attendance rate of 97.5%. President Francois Hollande wore a blue scarf to support France, but the curtain raiser was antiseptic and anti-climatic, as is so often the case with opening matches, on and off the field.
Albanian and Swiss fans flocked to Lens – in size, a glorified village with a branch of the Louvre museum – for the tournament’s second game. The old Bollaert-Delelis stadium, revamped for Euro 2016, has a capacity of 34,500 with 33,805 fans in attendance, turning the compact stadium into a sea of red. After five minutes Switzerland’s Fabian Schar scored the game’s deciding goal from a header.
Wales began their campaign on a high with Gareth Bale and Robson-Kanu propelling the Dragons to a famous victory in their first game at a major finals since the 1958 World Cup. At the beautiful Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, designed by architects Herzog and De Meuron, the Welsh fans vastly outnumbered their Slovakian counterparts with an official attendance of 37,831 at the 40,000 all-seater ground – an overall attendance rate of 94,6%.
At the 64,000 all-seater Stadium Velodrome in Marseille, 62,343 fans (attendance rate: 97,4 % ) witnessed England dazzle in the first half before the Three Lions collapsed spectacularly in the final ten minutes of the game to concede a late Russian equalizer. The game was, however, overshadowed by crowd violence.
In group D Turkey and Croatia opened proceedings. The Croatians outclassed a feeble Turkey, with Luka Modric’s marvelous volley proving the difference between the two sides. At the Parc Des Princes, PSG’s home ground with a tournament capacity of 46,000, 43,842 fans populated the stands, which equaled an attendance rate of 95,3%.
Northern Ireland debuted at the European Championship, but suffered for much of the afternoon against a superior Poland. The Green Army remained in a good voice, however, as 33,742 fans watched Arkadiusz Milik score the only goal of the game at the Stade de Nice, which has 34,500 seats. With a 97,8% attendance rate, the group C match was the best attended game so far.
Finally, world champions Germany got their campaign underway with a convincing 2-0 win over a defensive Ukraine. Manchester United’s Bastian Schweinsteiger sealed the three points for Germany in injury time. At Lille’s 47,000 Pierre-Mauroy Stadium, 43,035 fans attended. The game got the lowest attendance rate with 91.5%.
Euro 2016 is proving a hit with the fans, so far, but a number of tickets still remain available for group games through uefa.com.
Euro 2016 Attendances
Opening match: France – Romania. Attendance: 75,113 – 97,5%
Group A: Albania – Swiss. Attendance: 33,805 – 96,6%
Group B: Wales – Slovakia. Attendance: 37,831 – 94,6%
Group B: England – Russia. Attendance: 62,343 – 97,4 %
Group C: Northern Ireland – Poland. Attendance: 33,742 – 97,8%
Group C: Germany – Ukraine. Attendance: 43,035 – 91,5%
Group D: Turkey – Croatia. Attendance: 43,842 – 95,3%
Total attendance: 329,711. Average: 95.8%
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