Dortmund turns orange as Dutch fans stream across the border
Netherlands supporters turned Dortmund into a sea of orange on
Wednesday in the build-up to the European Championship semi-final with England
with an estimated 70,000 crossing the border to cheer on their team and vastly
outnumbering rival fans.
Most do not have match tickets but made the journey to watch the
game in one of the city's two fan parks – causing one to put the "full
house" signs up seven hours before kick off.
No more supporters were being allowed into the Friedenplatz fan
park from 1400 local time because it was already too full, Dortmund police said.
Thousands were jammed into the city centre, on trams on the
city's underground and outside their team's hotel near the BVB Stadion where
the match kicks off at 2100 (1900 GMT).
Supporters were due to begin the ‘Oranje fan walk’ some five
hours before kick off, walking several kilometres from the city to the stadium.
The walk has been made famous by social media video of fans
hopping from one direction to the other in unison to the dance anthem ‘Links
Rechts’ -- which translates to left, right -- by Dutch artist Snollebollekes.
Traffic at entry points into Germany was backed up, the Dutch
automobile association ANWB said, as German police carried out checks.
At 1230, there was a traffic jam of about 13km on the A12
motorway which runs from The Hague to the border, causing a delay of about an
hour, it added. Dortmund is less than 100km from the Dutch border.
The Netherlands team were due to fly back to their base at
Wolfsburg after the match, irrespective of whether they win or lose, the Dutch
FA said.
They had attempted to travel to Dortmund on Tuesday by train but
plans were cancelled after the route was blocked. German television reported
later that a train had struck an animal on the tracks causing delays.
The Dutch squad arrived at their Dortmund base some three hours later
than planned on Tuesday evening.
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