England reached the final of Euro 2024 with a 2-1 victory against the Netherlands on Wednesday night, meaning they’re one step closer to ending their 58-year wait for a major trophy in the men’s game.
With Spain the only opponents now standing in the way between England and Euro 2024 glory, officials have now started making plans for potential celebrations should Gareth Southgate’s side lift the trophy at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Sunday.
Should England win, it is expected the squad will fly back into a London airport, rather than Birmingham where they departed from for Germany. That’s because a victory parade in the capital would be in order, with plans for potential celebrations now coming to light.
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FourFourTwo understands that government officials in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) were discussing the potential for England’s victory parade, if they do indeed win the final against Spain, to be held at Wembley Stadium instead of Trafalgar Square.
Trafalgar Square has regularly been used as the venue for sporting celebrations in recent times, with England’s successful 2003 Rugby World Cup team and 2005 Ashes victors both heading there to be welcomed by fans. Most recently, England’s women’s football team also used Trafalgar Square to celebrate their Euro 2022 triumph under Sarina Wiegman, in what was dubbed a ‘fan party’.
7,000 fans were allowed entry into Trafalgar Square on a first-come-first-served basis on that occasion, with the event lasting a few hours.
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DCMS originally discussed Wembley Stadium (Image credit: Charlotte Tattersall – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
The idea to move the celebrations to Wembley Stadium has since been canned, though, with policing costs much higher than anticipated away from central London. The eight-or-so miles between Trafalgar Square and Wembley Stadium would have seen more resources taken away from central London towards the north-west of the city, which the DCMS don’t believe is feasible.
There would also be increased strain on Transport for London (TfL), with thousands of fans naturally looking to join in the celebrations at The Home of Football.
It’s unclear whether the England squad would head through London’s city centre as part of an open-top bus parade, or whether they would stay put in Trafalgar Square showing off the European Championship trophy.
Before anyone starts worrying about that, however, England have to beat Spain on Sunday.
Fans celebrating Euro 2022 win at Trafalgar Square (Image credit: NIKLAS HALLE’N/AFP via Getty Images)
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Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture’s websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
