FCDO / ATAC Meeting

The ATAC Chair and Vice-Chair attended a meeting with a two FCDO staff today about Consular Communications ahead of this year’s Euros.  Present were the Euros Liaison Officer at the Berlin Embassy who is assigned to Scotland’s Euro messaging, and the Consul to Ukraine who is assisting with the Scotland Consular communications for Euro 2024.

There are three main pillars to the Consular messaging.

1 – Signing up for FCDO travel advice and alerts

2 – Keeping belongings such as passport, phone etc safe during the tournament

3 – Respecting local laws and customs

The first covers items such as terror alerts, current advice all the way to mass casualty events.  We explained that signing up to these is usually a reactive behaviour, in that advice on these pages would be sought if/when something happens rather than in advance.

The second pillar is common sense and the TA has various members with a history of being serial passport losers.  We are aware that there will be on the ground help from UEFA/Euro 2024 in the event of ticket holders losing phones and will look to see that advice when it is available.

We have already covered some of the local laws and customs in our notes from the Frankfurt Fans Forum that we attended in January.  It is covered in the NFIP section from Day 1.  We will reiterate these messages over the coming months.

In addition to the active and loyal fanbase that ATAC represents we are aware that there will be many fans travelling that may not have been abroad to follow Scotland before.  Our communication channels may struggle to reach these people and this could possibly also be the case for any SFA/SSC and Consular messaging.  We have agreed to assist in pushing out important Consular messaging where we can.  The Consul staff will look to also engage the SFA and to put messaging in the media.  These can be done via match programmes, radio and TV programmes, alongside podcasts and similar digital routes.

We touched on routes that fans are taking and also where Scotland fans are likely to be based.  Currently there is no particular route or method that stands above any others.  The TA will be travelling over air, land and sea.  The superb public transport in Germany also means that fans can base themselves outwith the host cities and travel in and out for the matches.  The 36 hour free travel pass for ticket holders makes that particularly appealing.

Further meetings will be scheduled when required.



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Euro 2024 Fans Forum – Frankfurt – Jan 2024

At the tail end of January, ATAC Chair & Vice Chair – Martin Riddell & Graeme Baxter – attended the UEFA Euro 2024 Fans Forum in Frankfurt, as we look forward to Scotland taking on Europe at this summer’s tournament.

The event brought together tournament organisers Euro2024 Gmbh, UEFA, and the 10 Host City organising teams, with National FAs, NFIP, German Ministry, Football Supporters Europe (FSE), Coordination Centre Fan Projects (KOS) and Supporters Representatives. This forms part of the engagement strand of Germanys Euro 2024 bid to deliver an unforgettable, safe, and enjoyable experience for fans at this summers tournament.

The three day event covered a range of presentations, discussions, and Q&A sessions on a wide range of the tournament plans, including Host City / Fan activations, Fan zones, fan walks, along with wider tournament aspects of safety & security, mobility, ticketing, comms, sustainability. etc. Our opportunity to meet One on One with the individual Host City teams were particularly valuable. It also gave us the opportunity to network with other supporters groups from around Europe.

you can read more about the event here – https://www.uefa.com/news/028a-1a138942be65-eeb9904b50a5-1000–euro-2024-fan-forum-united-by-football/

We’ve condensed the mountain of information we received down into some notes in the below document to share amongst ATAC members and fellow Scotland fans.

Should you have any follow up or questions, feel free to get in touch with us.

*Materials published on this website and in this article, and any attachments and documents is the copyright of the Association of Tartan Army Clubs, and may not be quoted or reproduced without prior permission

Euro 2024 Ticket Sale Fiasco

Today should have been a day of celebration for the Tartan Army getting their hands on a ticket for the upcoming Euros.  The reality is that it has turned in to a shambles.  A quick and workable solution needs to be found to allow excited and the most loyal fans to secure their tickets for next summer.

We are extremely disappointed and concerned that there was no supporter consultation in advance of the ticket sale schedule and methodology. The opportunity was there. Additionally, we would have expected the SFA to have consulted with other participating nations in order to identify best practice. This was a serious failing.

After attending Fan Embassy workshops in Hamburg last weekend, ATAC got a flavour of what other countries do to sell their tickets and we have been in discussions with the SFA’s Scotland Supporters Club since the beginning of this week to highlight these.

Accountability for what caused this will come in due course, but the most important thing is to have this fixed and communicated as soon as possible.

Contact: Hamish Husband +44 7943 875943

Martin Riddell +44 7974 801315

Spain v Scotland

ATAC committee members met yesterday with the SSC Team, SLO & Security. One of the topics discussed was our upcoming trips to Spain & France

We are surprised to learn that the Spanish Police have designated our match there in the high risk category. Fans travelling to Spain should be aware that this may result in a more visible Police presence than we see at other away matches.

We know that a number of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 fans throughout the Tartan Army will have purchased home end tickets independently of the allocation we have received through the SSC.

Fans need to be mindful of the heightened security category, and what this may mean for accessing the home sections. This always carries a risk to gaining entry but may be more enforced for this fixture.