Tens of thousands of England and Netherlands fans heading to tonight’s Euro 2024 semi-final in Dortmund are facing travel chaos on railways and roads.
The Dutch are expecting 80,000 supporters to descend on the city in the north-west of Germany, close to the border with the Netherlands.
Around 40,000 England fans are also forecast to be in Dortmund, many also without tickets for the match at Signul Iduna Park, which has a capacity of 62,000.
But those numbers could be hit by fresh problems with Germany’s creaking rail network and long tailbacks at the border with the Netherlands hours before kick-off.
England fans on the ground in Germany have reported trains from Munich to Dortmund being overbooked, leaving some stranded.
Legions of Netherlands fans travelling to the game by road, meanwhile, are encountering long delays at the border.
“There are heavy traffic jams at the border with Germany,” Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reports. “Tens of thousands of Oranje fans are heading towards our eastern neighbours, resulting in many delays.”
Nonetheless there is already a sizeable Dutch presence in Dortmund, where fans of the Netherlands are expected to significantly outnumber England supporters.
They are expected to walk the two-mile route from the city centre to the stadium this afternoon in their thousands.
England fans are set to be outnumbered by their Netherlands counterparts at tonight’s Euro 2024 semi-final in Dortmund
The Netherlands have also been allocated the enormous single-tier stand at the home of Borussia Dortmund, where the usual “yellow wall” is set to turn orange.
Kick off is at 8pm UK time, when England will attempt to reach the final of a major tournament overseas for the first time in the history of the men’s team.
England fans have already faced travel problems at Euro 2024, being subjected to long waits for public transport after their opening win over Serbia.