Netherlands handed major advantage for Euro 2024 semi-final with England after UEFA decision
England and Netherlands will meet in Wednesday’s semi-final.
The Netherlands appear to have been handed an advantage for their Euro 2024 semi-final against England following a UEFA decision.
On Wednesday England will play in their third semi-final in four major tournaments, with the Netherlands standing between them and the final of Euro 2024.
Gareth Southgate’s side have underwhelmed in Germany, but they will be confident of beating a side that haven’t exactly set the world alight either.
Wednesday’s clash will take place at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund, the second biggest venue at the tournament following the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
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66,000 fans will be in attendance to watch the clash, although 60 per cent of the sell-out crowd are expected to be supporting the Dutch.
In addition, the fact that Dutch supporters have been allocated the stadium’s ‘Yellow Wall’ means the Netherlands will effectively have home advantage.
As reported by Mail Sport, UEFA have allocated half of the Westfalenstadion’s south stand to Dutch fans, with the other half going on general sale.
The south stand – dubbed the ‘Yellow Wall’ due to it housing the most vocal fans of Borussia Dortmund – is set to become the ‘Orange Wall’.
There will be some England fans seated in the Gelbe Wand area, but they will be massively outnumbered by thousands of Oranje supporters.
England fans might also be concerned about UEFA’s choice of referee for the match.
Dutch authorities are expecting between 75,000 and 80,000 fans to travel across the border to Germany, while 30,000 England supporters are set to travel to North Rhine-Westphalia for the huge match.
The winner of the clash will face either Spain or France in the final on Sunday.
