Originally Posted by BBC News
More than 30,000 Netherlands fans were expected to be on the parade through the streets of Hamburg, with 15,000 of those having tickets for Sunday’s game against Poland
Ahead of me someone is dressed as a lion, to the right a woman is wearing a cheese wheel on her head, above me foam busts of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Dennis Bergkamp bop to the sound of the now popular football anthem Freed from Desire, as a sea of orange sways along to the beat.
The Netherlands fan parade at Euro 2024 – unaffected by an incident in central Hamburg which sparked a major police operation – is in full swing before their opening game against Poland.
Turning the streets of Hamburg orange
Netherlands fans have been walking to matches at major tournaments across the world for decades
Fans of every national team will argue they are the most passionate, but few are quite so colourful and loud as the Dutch.
They are always unmissable – thousands of supporters decked in bright orange, many in creative and often absurd outfits, taking over fan zones and city centres before their team plays.
Then, with hours to go before kick-off, they turn into a sea of orange, swaying to the sound of a techno beat on a march to the stadium, causing passers-by to stop in their tracks and take photos.
It is a scene that is always memorable, and something that the players also appreciate.
“The fans are massive,” Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk told BBC Sport. Read Full Article
