Football: UEFA To Tighten Security Against Pitch Invaders.

While fans come to the stadiums to witness a beautiful game, there are those who take their love for the game to another level. They boldly invade the pitch to either take a selfie with their favorite footballer, give them a hug or just to create distractions and be noticed by the crowd. Such was the case in Portugal's last match gainst Turkey at Euro 2024, where five people invaded the pitch to try to take photos with Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, and security guards at Westfalenstadion had to chase after each supporter while players and fans in the stands grew increasingly frustrated. The first supporter to break on to the pitch was a young boy who was received by Ronaldo with a hug before smiling for a selfie.

Though this act seems cool to these fans, football managers like Roberto Martinez of Portugal do not agree with such. Reason why he looks at the other side of he story as he questioned?

What if their intentions are wrong. We need to be careful. It shouldn't happen, there's a lot of security. We should give a message to the fans also because it is not the right way. It may get worse for the future. It's not good to have the players so exposed on the pitch.

UEFA has made it clear that safety and security at the stadium, on the pitch and at team facilities is the ultimate priority for tournament organisers. The football body has declared in a statement that additional safety measures will be deployed in the stadiums to further meet the requirements of the tournament, and to prevent such incidents.

For reasons of security, we cannot comment further on specific measures. As a reminder, any incursion on to the pitch constitutes a breach of the stadium rules and will result in expulsion from the stadium, a ban from all tournament matches and the filing of a formal criminal complaint for trespass.  The statement further stated.

But truth be told, these pitch invaders undeniably add some fun and excitement to the game though.