‘Ring of steel’ for Champions League
REVEALED: FULL DETAILS OF FOUR DAYS OF ROAD CLOSURE FOR CITY, AS MASSIVE SECURITY OPERATION UNVEILED FOR SHOWPIECE FINAL
A “RING of steel” will be put in place in Cardiff ahead of the Champions League final being staged in the city.
Some 175,000 fans are arriving for the June 3 event, which will see the city at its “busiest ever”, with 24-hour road closures in place and 1,500 police on the streets.
The match at the Principality Stadium – which is being renamed National Stadium of Wales for the event for rights reasons – will be the single biggest sporting event of the year, with 200 million people expected to watch on television.
And, in details that emerged yesterday, the security operation will be equally huge, with South Wales Police drafting in officers from several other forces and a security “ring of steel” – including antiterror measures at 52 locations in the city – being put in place.
Already 25 police officers are working full-time on planning the event, and that number will soon rise to 50.
On the day of the showpiece match 1,500 officers from all four Welsh forces, as well as others from over the border, will be working in Cardiff, and armed police will also be deployed on the streets.
Police are conducting 12,000 background checks on people who will be involved in the event, both working at the stadium and in the surrounding area.
There will be no giant fence around the city, but roads are set to be blocked off to vehicles, while the giant yellow gates used during the Nato summit in 2014 are expected to be installed at dozens of locations.
South Wales Police Superintendent Steve Furnham said: “An event of this magnitude requires a large-scale safety and security operation, which has been in the planning, along with our partners, for months. We will be welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors to our capital city and we want them to be able to look back on their experience with great memories of their visit to Wales.
“As well as the challenges of an influx of international visitors to Cardiff we also need to consider the impact this event will have on the people who live, work and travel in and around Cardiff.”
Extra transport is being put on to help fans get to and from the city as quickly as possible, and as well as the match itself a four-day free festival will take place in Cardiff Bay from June 1. One of the most eye-catching attractions will be a floating pitch, which is being constructed in the Roald Dahl Plass area, and which will play host to a Champions match featuring football legends on June 2.
The event will also include live music and a museum inside the Wales Millennium Centre, though the festival site will not screen the match.
Hosting the match is said to be worth £45m to Cardiff and the region, with the city being the smallest ever
to host the Uefa showpiece.
To get the city ready for what is described as its biggest-ever event there will be road closures across the city from this month until up to two weeks after the final. They are considerably bigger than the closures the city usually sees for sporting events. There will be road closures overnight between April and May for security measures to be put in place, but organisers say they are confident they can keep the city moving.
The Football Association of Wales (FAW) said airports, trains and roads are expected to see increased traffic from as far away as London, Birmingham and Gloucester, as well as from Bristol, Newport and the Valleys.
The FAW recommended avoiding travelling to Cardiff on June 3 unless the journey is essential.
“If you do need to travel, or are keen to soak in the atmosphere, please note your journey may be longer than usual, so head out early and plan ahead,” it said.
From noon on the day of the final only people with tickets will be allowed on to the streets immediately surrounding the stadium in what is described as the “inner secure area”.
There will be four tiers of security checks for fans – most before they even reach the stadium. They will have to produce their tickets, and there will then be chemical pen tests before a bag and body search, and then the turnstiles.
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