Revealed: the fundamental failings that led to Wembley's Euro 2020 final night of shame

The Football Association was warned there was a problem with ticketless fans gaining entrance to Wembley Stadium and occupying seats in Euro 2020 games building up to the final on July 11 that ended in chaos, Telegraph Sport has learned.

A Telegraph investigation into the events of the day of the final at Wembley between England and Italy that saw widespread disorder, 53 arrests and 19 Metropolitan Police officers injured, as thousands of ticketless fans forced their way in, has revealed that no problems were flagged up by the FA in official Uefa meetings before games.

Sources have indicated to The Telegraph that there were problems with fans taking seats in the area of the stadium allocated to the players’ guests as early as the second group game against Scotland on June 18. By the time England played Germany in the last-16 on June 29 and Denmark in the semi-final eight days later the problems in that area had become much worse.

On July 11, it is estimated around 250,000 fans descended on Wembley Park, resulting in what the FA chief executive Mark Bullingham described as a “six-hour siege” of the stadium. A Freedom of Information request from the Telegraph to the local authority Brent Council has revealed that the Safety Advisory Group which recommends the level of security required met just once before the tournament and then again nine days after the events of July 11. There were no warnings about potential problems such as forced entry of tailgating – two people entering on one ticket – in the Uefa operations group meetings that took place on the day before each game and the matchday itself.

The Telegraph understands there were similar forced entry problems at the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley. Last year, Brent obtained a Public Space Protection Order for Wembley Park because of multiple instances of anti-social behaviour by football fans attending games – but was unable to enforce it on July 11.

The Met Police arrested a total of 86 people across London on July 11 in events related to the final. It said after the game that it expected further arrests to be made in the following weeks and released pictures of some of those whom it wished to speak. No numbers of subsequent arrests for disorder have been announced.

The FA has commissioned an independent review of the day’s events by Baroness Casey of Blackstock although there is currently no option on the FA’s website for members of the public to submit evidence. The FA is also facing a possible sanction from Uefa, over “lack of order or discipline by its supporters” and may have to play senior England games without fans in the stadium.

'Worst crowd disturbances at a major English football match in decades'

It was the families of the England players who first noticed that something was amiss inside Wembley Stadium.

On June 18, the night of the game with Scotland, and in blocks 102, 103 and 104 - areas supposedly allocated to the families and guests of the England players - there were groups of fans who evidently should not have been there.

As the tournament went on, the situation got worse. For the last 16 game against Germany, the players’ guests arrived to find others sitting in their seats. The conversations became more tense, the intruders more belligerent. Many of the families had young children in tow or even babies. At half-time, staff members at the English Football Association (FA) were told of the problems in the family and friends area, but the issues continued.

Come the final on July 11, the problems that had initially been confined to a small part of the stadium, and a few turnstiles, had engulfed the whole of Wembley amid the worst crowd disturbances seen at a major English football match in decades - scenes which would leave some staff working for Uefa, the European governing body that organises the tournament, in tears.

Thousands of ticketless fans had stormed the inadequate security at the stadium. Uefa volunteers had been overwhelmed, amid allegations that stewards had been bribed to let ticketless fans into the ground. Covid test checkpoints were abandoned. Fights erupted between fans with tickets and those breaking in. Drug consumption was flagrant. The smell of weed drifted over the stands, overcrowded with people who had burst in.

A “six-hour siege” from “lawless yobs” was how it would later be described by no less a figure than Mark Bullingham, the chief executive of the FA, the governing body selected to host eight matches, including both semi-finals and the final.

On Sunday, England return to Wembley for the first time since the Euros for a World Cup qualifier against Andorra but the events of July 11 are far from resolved, the subject of an independent review commissioned by the FA and a Uefa investigation.

Because of that review, the FA is not commenting on specific issues around July 11. A senior FA source said that the FA’s position was that there were “no significant problems” before the final, beyond tailgating – ticketless fans slipping through turnstiles behind ticketed fans - for the semi-final against Denmark on July 7.

The fundamental question which still hangs over that day remains: how could Uefa; the FA, which owns and operates Wembley; the Metropolitan Police; and the local authority, Brent Council, have been caught out so spectacularly?

'Step away if any sign of trouble'

The new Wembley Stadium, opened in 2007, is a favourite of Uefa, hosting Champions League finals in 2011 and 2013. As with all 11 Euros venues, representatives of the FA via its subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Limited (WNSL) attended the operations group meetings held by Uefa on the day before it hosted a game and again on the morning of those matchdays. At the start of the tournament the virtual meetings began at 7am, an hour later by the time the final arrived, and that was when any anticipated problems were to be reported.

The Telegraph understands that not once was there any mention of issues with ticketless fans, tailgating or the many problems that Wembley suffered on July 11. Before the semi-final against Denmark on July 7 there was a brief warning in the operations group meeting of a potential pitch invasion should England win but that was all. Neither was there any warning for the 24 Uefa “project leaders” whose responsibilities at Wembley encompass much that football’s European governing body holds dear: ticketing, commercial rights, logistics, hospitality, broadcasters and VIPs.

The Telegraph understands that in the last 24 hours before the final on July 11, the Uefa project leaders were updated via their WhatsApp group on everything from the weather forecast, to which ends of the stadium the two teams would warm-up, to a potential staff discount in approved stores should England win. The only suggestion of what was to come was a warning that some volunteers had “been bribed to hand over their accreditations”. “Step away if any sign of trouble or tension” they were reminded.

The turnstiles were due to open at 5pm, three hours before kick-off. By then it would be clear that the buzz of thousands of voices outside was not the normal boisterous anticipation of a big game and that many in that crowd were in a mood to do whatever it took to get inside, whether they had tickets or not.

Wembley's patchwork of different land owners

Wembley Park, the 85-acre site that encompasses the stadium, the London Underground station of the same name; the newly-built residential and shopping areas; and the Olympic Way thoroughfare – also known as “Wembley Way” – is a network of different ownership.

In the station itself one is under the auspices of London Underground and the British Transport Police. At the bottom of the steep steps down to Olympic Way, at the start of the Bobby Moore underpass, you find yourself on land belonging to Quintain, the property investment company which owns the majority of Wembley Park and has been responsible for its redevelopment. Only at the very perimeter of the stadium itself, known as the Pacific and Atlantic Crescents, are you finally on land owned by the FA. On the upper level concourse the FA’s land begins at the top of the new “Olympic steps”.

At the turn of the millennium, as the row over the soaring cost of acquiring and rebuilding the old Wembley Stadium grew ever more awkward for the FA, it decided not to spend £25million on the car parks that surrounded the stadium to its north, with Quintain acquiring them instead. For the FA, it was to prove a serious error.

As the owners of the new Wembley Stadium, the FA opposed the redevelopment of Wembley Park when it began around 10 years ago. By then the FA had recognised the mistake its predecessors had made in failing to buy the northside car parks. In 2016, the then FA operations director Julie Harrington, who oversaw Wembley, pulled no punches in her condemnation of the plans.

Quintain was, Harrington said, “working from a position to maximise profits” and not “protect fan safety”. Her concerns were chiefly the development’s likely effect of slowing down fans’ departures from the stadium and dispersal from the area, pointing out that “no-one should believe that it's acceptable to herd fans like cattle. We must learn from past mistakes.” Now the chief executive at the British Horseracing Authority, Harrington declined to elaborate on her fears at the time. The warnings over potential problems were prophetic, although not as the FA had anticipated.

The then chairman of the FA, Greg Dyke, said that Quintain’s £2.5billion plans “will have some terrible consequences for the public safety and traffic management around the stadium on event day.”

By the summer of 2021, 14 apartment blocks had been built on the site of the old northside car parks, encompassing 1,800 homes. Some are just metres from the stadium itself. The capability the FA has to establish security cordons around the ground is non-existent. As well as private homes there are hotels and a shopping outlet. As for Olympic Way, the half-mile walk from tube to stadium, it is Quintain-owned and responsibility for policing that thoroughfare where as many as 250,000 people were thought to have congregated on the day of the Euro 2020 final, is shared.

Brent Council said in a statement that the FA, encompassing WNSL, and Quintain were responsible for “security and safety arrangements at and around the stadium” with support as needed from the Met Police. As for the concerns raised by Harrington in 2016, a Brent spokesperson said: “From Championships to FA Finals [sic], Wembley has hosted bigger crowds at numerous stadium events without incident since the wider redevelopment of Wembley Park, so we do not recognise any speculation about improvements on the north side of the stadium. Planning applications for work around the stadium were thoroughly and rigorously scrutinised for safety and security considerations before approval.”

As for Quintain, it said that on stadium event days, security for Olympic Way, which it owns, is “under the control of the FA and WNSL, from their control room inside the stadium, and therefore all security matters should be discussed with them”.

Quintain says it chooses to deploy some security measures on matchdays but only to protect residential areas from fans. The property developer says that its “top priority has always been to provide a world-class and safe environment for everyone living [on], working and visiting the estate”.

'It had become a chronic situation'

By the time the doors opened for fans at Wembley at 5pm on Euro 2020 final day, the crowds outside had become so dense as to be almost impassable in some areas. That was the case on much of Olympic Way; in Arena Square, the public plaza in front of Wembley Arena; and at the base of the newly built Olympic steps. There was so much alcohol being consumed that takeaway delivery drivers were spotted bringing fresh consignments to fans.

The atmosphere outside the stadium had become so intense that many VIP guests simply came through the nearest entrance they could find. Wayne Rooney could be seen with a friend in the media entrance having come through the outer security perimeter (OSP) while a large group of England fans chanted his name. The former Doctor Who actor Matt Smith and later the Hollywood star Paul Rudd also came through the OSP's media entrance to the west side of the Club Wembley VIP areas they should have been heading for.

Some of the players' families had hired part of the Boxpark venue on Olympic Way and set off from there around 6.30pm for what should have been a short walk to the stadium. They headed straight into some of the worst scenes of the storming of disabled entrances. One of them, Harry Maguire’s father, Alan, 56, had his ribs broken in a crush at the entrance.

Inside the stadium, there were no FA security staff sitting with the families and friends, as was the case in the past for home and away games. The dedicated player liaison officer, Lewis Maddison, stayed within the team’s Covid bubble which meant he was sitting behind the team benches on matchday. Representatives of the agency Sportsworld, who organised the post-final party at the Hilton hotel next to the stadium, were in the stands but only so that they could guide the families to and from the hospitality that was laid on for them. In blocks 102, 103 and 104 it had become a chronic situation with families facing verbal abuse from fans in their seats.

By then, chaos had spread all over Wembley. Ticket-holding fans, many with young children, faced the crowds and disorder on Olympic Way, surges through the OSP and then huge queues at turnstiles as others tried to tailgate or steal tickets. Once inside, ticketed fans often found concourses and aisles full, their seats taken and the prospect of having to move those sitting in them themselves – with confrontation inevitable.

'It was too late'

How did no-one spot the problems coming? Ultimately all decisions to assess the security of events at Wembley are made following discussions with the local Safety Advisory Group. The Telegraph requested the minutes of the SAG meetings relating to Wembley’s Euro 2020 games under the Freedom of Information Act. Brent Council, which chairs the SAG for Wembley, refused on security grounds. However, documents released by Brent disclosed that the SAG met twice: on June 4, nine days before Wembley hosted its first Euro 2020 game, and then again nine days after the final on July 20.

Both SAG meetings were chaired by Brent’s operational director Chris Whyte, and the first comprised seven representatives from the local authority, five from the FA and WNSL and two from Quintain. Also represented were the Met Police, the Sports Ground Safety Authority, London Ambulance, British Transport Police, Transport for London and Chiltern Trains, which operate services to Wembley Stadium station.

By the time the SAG met again for a debrief on July 20, Whyte was one of 13 in attendance from Brent. There were six from the Met Police and two from London Ambulance. At the first SAG meeting on June 4 the Met’s only representative was a police sergeant who was not named in the redacted documents. Come the second meeting on July 20, after the events at Wembley, the SAG was attended by chief inspector Neil Holyoak, one of six from the Met.

The FA has said since July 11 that all provisions it made for the event were taken in consultation with the SAG. The FA confirmed there was an additional meeting on July 1 with members of the SAG, although that was not a formally scheduled meeting.

The FA source said: “over 100 meetings during the tournament that would have discussed safety and security”. The source added that 28 of those meetings took place between the second semi-final on July 7 and the final, four days later. It is also claimed that more than 50 of these meetings included representatives of the Met Police, government, Uefa, Brent, WNSL and the local organisers.

The source said that the FA’s position was that there were “no significant problems” before the final. The FA source accepted that there was “tailgating” for the semi-final against Denmark on July 7 “but in small numbers and non-violent.”

The Met Police declined to comment on the SAG’s recommendations. Brent said in a statement: “Issues or concerns may be raised to the SAG, however the remit of the group is in its name – advisory.”

As for whether intelligence should have seen it coming, the signs were there. Social media was ablaze with threats to get into Wembley without tickets. The FA says that intelligence planning is not its remit.

In a statement three days after the final, the Met Police's deputy assistant commissioner Jane Connors said: “I do not accept that the policing operation failed and I stand by the difficult decisions made by police officers and the Met’s public order commanders. Without their immediate intervention, it is possible that this game could have been abandoned.”

Ken Marsh, secretary of the Police Federation, has said that on July 11 officers were working on Olympic Way in the huge crowds. When it became clear that the stadium was being breached, Marsh said in a BBC radio interview, “it was too late… We were the wrong side and unable to repel them.”

The FA’s position has remained the same. It says it is “determined to fully understand” what happened at the final via Baroness Casey of Blackstock’s review which, amongst its remit, will look at the “planning and preparedness” of the different agencies involved.

A FA spokesperson added: “[The] independent review … will speak to all parties concerned and include external experts. A key emphasis of the findings will be to ensure that lessons are learned and such disgraceful scenes are never able to be repeated. We continue to work with the relevant authorities in support of their efforts to identify those responsible and hold them to account.”

The problem of ticketless supporters

The problems that surfaced with ticketless fans on July 11 were not new. In fact, they did not even begin with the second group game against Scotland.

Sources have told the Telegraph that between 150 and 200 fans forced access to the 2011 Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona. They did so by rushing the waist high turnstiles and then storming the exit doors when they were opened to eject fans who had forced their way in. In response, Wembley installed full-body height turnstiles and double “airlock” doors.

In January 2020, Brent Council obtained a three-year Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) over the Wembley Park site, public and private land which made it a criminal offence to commit any one of a number of banned activities. They included everything from street drinking, littering, letting off smoke flares, or even throwing or kicking a football around in a large group. Indeed, the PSPO document is a list of much of the behaviour that took place on the day of the Euro 2020 final.

In the consultation paper for the PSPO issued in June 2019, Brent said that it had faced major problems before around big games at Wembley. It even named the games in question: the Football League Trophy final between Portsmouth and Sunderland; the FA Cup semi-final between Watford and Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Championship play-off final between Aston Villa and Derby County, all in 2019. At those games, Brent said, “the drinking of alcohol in open public areas and the associated anti-social behaviour has been particularly bad.”

The problem had existed long enough for the PSPO application to have been issued two years before the Euro 2020 final. Yet on the day, Met Police and the private security companies contracted by the FA were powerless to stop thousands of individual breaches of the PSPO.

In the past, there have been checkpoints established on Olympic Way to prevent ticketless fans getting close to the stadium. Supporters have reported it at NFL games and pictures taken by fans at the 2013 Champions League final, hosted by Wembley, show stop points in use on Olympic Way. Why this did not happen on July 11 is not clear.

Who decides what happens on Olympic Way? “Wembley Park (Quintain) is responsible for security on their land, including Olympic Way”, Brent Council said in a statement.

Quintain, for their part, believes that responsibility for Olympic Way on stadium event days rests with the FA and WNSL.

High-profile departures

Wembley is a major part of the FA, but also a major challenge, especially in the Covid era. In 2018, the then FA chief executive Martin Glenn, proposed selling the stadium to the US billionaire Shahid Khan, owner of Fulham FC and the Florida-based NFL franchise, Jacksonville Jaguars.

Under Glenn, the separate WNSL board – constituted as a condition of the original financing of the new stadium – was wound up. In 2014 it saw the departure of two stadium executives with years of experience running venues and live events, chairman Melvin Benn and managing director Roger Maslin. More recently Wembley has seen other high-profile departures, including Jason Eglash, the lead safety officer, now across town at the London Stadium. Peter Swordy, the former Wembley operations manager, went the same way. In the Covid restructure, the Wembley operations director Jon Sellins left the FA and there were also changes to the ticketing department.

The lead for the London local organising committee (LOC) for Euro 2020 was Mark Burrows, the chief operating officer of the FA and the closest aide to its chief executive, Bullingham. Bullingham’s predecessor, Glenn, had chaired the LOC before his resignation in 2019 but with the workload on the new chief executive created by Covid, especially 124 enforced FA redundancies, Burrows picked up that responsibility.

The LOC was the chief conduit to Uefa and its responsibilities were wide-ranging; everything from the training grounds that would be available for overseas teams to use at temporary bases, to the movement of squads from hotels to stadiums on matchdays. At one point the LOC expended a great deal of effort pre-pandemic negotiating free travel on public transport in London for any match ticket holders. Whether, amid the many issues facing the London LOC, the problem of “jibbing in” in the event of England reaching the final was discussed is not known.

Why a World Cup bid may not be dead

Wembley’s Euro 2020 final disaster has been viewed by some in Uefa as the death rattle for the combined United Kingdom and Ireland bid for the 2030 centenary World Cup finals. Uefa will only sanction one European bid, and the other comes jointly from Spain and Portugal. The successful offering will go on to challenge the likely combined bid from Uruguay – the original 1930 hosts – and Argentina; and possibly China.

There are, however, strong suggestions that whatever happened at Wembley, on July 11, the Uefa president Aleksandar Ceferin may yet be minded to support the UK-Ireland bid. The European Super League posed a threat to Uefa far greater than one day of chaos at a final. The UK government and FA support for Uefa in annihilating the Super League in April, compared to the lack of meaningful action from their Spanish counterparts has never been forgotten by Uefa.

Indeed, since the events of July 11, Wembley has retained its 2024 Champions League final amid Uefa’s reorganisation of venues for its showpiece game. If there was a moment that the FA might expect to have been punished it would have been the removal of that privilege.

Originally built in the 1920s in Middlesex countryside, Wembley was once just a stadium. Then in the 21st century came the shopping and high-rise living that markets itself on the grand history of the 98-year Wembley brand, much of it built because the FA failed to buy a car park 25 years ago.

On July 11 that was a combination that spelled the kind of trouble for which no-one had planned.