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The scale of the tournament was staggering: ten stadiums, 51 matches, and 16,000 dedicated volunteers from over 124 nations. Planning and execution were feats of logistical excellence. Around 2.7 million fans were expected to attend matches in stadiums, with up to 12 million fans enjoying the games and festivities across the fan zones of the ten host cities. For Nancy Faeser, Germany’s Federal Minister of the Interior and Community, safety was the top priority:
“We want to be good, welcoming hosts. (…) And we want to create moments and memories that bring people together. (…) We are committed to ensuring the European Championship is a thoroughly safe tournament – in the stadiums, at public viewings, and everywhere crowds gather.”
Police and security authorities at both federal and state level prepared intensively for this challenge.
A familiar image: masked individuals with pyrotechnics in the stadium.
From extremist threats and severe weather events to violent riots in and around the stadiums – the organisers of the European Championship had to anticipate every conceivable scenario and be ready to act. Ahead of the tournament, Minister Faeser expressed confidence: “We are well prepared – and anticipation for this major football festival in our country is running high.”
But it wasn’t just officials who were looking forward to the tournament – known hooligans, some classified as violent, were also expected. With potential planned actions, they could have disrupted the peaceful celebration. So how should the authorities respond?
Social media platforms, in particular, offer a space for coordination around large-scale sporting events. From organising travel to spreading details of possible disruptions, these platforms are key sources of intelligence. For investigators, they provide valuable leads on potential incidents.
To monitor the situation and intervene before things escalate, investigators use a range of AI-powered tools. One such tool is rsNetMAn by rola Security Solutions, which serves as a data collector, extracting information from over 250 million online sources. “Using search phrases, individual keywords or combined queries, the system identifies articles, posts or messages, which can then be analysed based on their virality, tone or included imagery. This sharpens the focus for targeted searches,” explains Dominik Kahsche, Solution Consultant at rola.
Automated analysis of these sources gives police and security authorities a precise overview of the situation: Where are gatherings planned? Which groups will be present at which matches? How many fans are expected? The tool generates easy-to-read reports that can be shared across teams and organisations – a necessity for an event of this scale.
And security efforts extend beyond national borders. Long before the tournament begins, German authorities work in close coordination with the police and security services of participating, neighbouring, and transit countries.
At the core of this international cooperation was the International Police Cooperation Centre (IPCC) in Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, where information from all international liaison officers was consolidated. It also coordinated the deployment of international police delegations across Europe and evaluated all tournament-related security intelligence.
Despite careful planning, violent individuals still sometimes make it into stadiums and cause disturbances. Even with the most robust security strategies in place, the possibility of unrest couldn’t be entirely ruled out. These are scenarios well-known to police and security forces: masked individuals hurling pyrotechnics into crowds or attacking rival supporters in the stands or nearby streets. During such incidents, it is often impossible for officers to identify and apprehend all perpetrators in real time. Speed and anonymity work in the offenders’ favour. Throw on a balaclava, cause chaos, and disappear into the crowd – that’s often the plan. That’s when the real investigative work begins. This is where AI-powered object recognition becomes invaluable. Surveillance cameras in the stadium, or publicly shared videos and photos on social media, generate vast amounts of data. The rsObIn object inspector scans this material using neural networks and autonomously detects patterns and faces. Whether masked or not, individuals can be identified. The object recognition software complements the rsNetMAn platform perfectly, enabling the extraction of vital information about vehicles, weapons, individuals and symbols from images and videos using AI. Within seconds, suspicious persons or items can be detected and flagged.
“Both tools are ready to use with minimal training and can operate independently – but used together, they support our police forces in making major events like the Euros or the Paris Olympics safer,” says Kahsche. The benefit? More time and resources for investigations and analysis within law enforcement.
According to Kahsche, tools like rsObIn are crucial to effective investigations:
“The tool works with great precision, automatically identifying and highlighting relevant areas in the data for analysts to review. It can detect a wide range of objects and features such as sunglasses, distinctive labels on clothing, or tattoos.”
In other words, even when a person is masked, the system analyses other characteristics frame by frame. And all this independently of time or location. If someone is under suspicion, investigators aren’t limited to footage from the day of the match. rsObIn might spot the individual buying food outside the stadium, entering the venue, or later at a petrol station. Thanks to recurring characteristics – like a distinctive tattoo – the same person might also be identified in traffic camera footage or a social media video.
This builds a kind of visual timeline, delivered to investigators automatically and within seconds.
“It’s the combination of both tools that’s a real game-changer. Even masked individuals can be identified,” concludes Dominik Kahsche.
Dominik Kahsche has been a Solution Consultant at rola since late 2022. With many years of experience in IT and sales, he now connects user needs with market opportunities and contributes to the ongoing development of rola’s product portfolio.