Crowd management is a strategic menace to major sporting events (MSEs). The Saint Denise Convention is the international legal reference for Integrated Safety, Security and Service Approach at Football Matches and other sports events since November 1, 2017. The aim of this convention is to reconfigure the security dynamics during football matches and other sport events. The convention has three core aspects: it is the only legally binding instrument in the world dealing with this subject; it establishes modern principles and the highest standard and best practices in this field; and it promotes institutional co-operation between all relevant stakeholders and experts in the organization of major sporting events. The approach is applied not only inside but also outside of sport venues.
The globalization era has reconfigured the systems of managing major sporting events, from public to private policing patterns. Several security incidents have been registered, relating to MSEs. From the 2015 terrorist attacks on Stade de France, which made fans to gather at the pitch waiting for security clearance to leave the stadium to 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, which Russian president was threatened by an image released on an encrypted app Telegram by terrorists in April 2018 stating: ‘‘ Russia 2018. Putin your disbeliever. You will pay the price for killing Muslims”. On the right side of the image, a bearded jihadi was brandishing an AK47 assault rifle, emerging from an explosion in front of a packed soccer arena. The left side of the poster was Putin with his entire body trapped in the cross hairs of a jihadi rifle.
Moreover, poster designed by al-Nur Media Center (an Islamic State-linked French media group) and published on Telegram, terrorists sent a message appealing on aspirants and armchair jihadist to orchestrate attacks. The image showed flags of countries competing in the FIFA World Cup with the French text ”Choisis ta Cible” (Choose your Target). One soccer star identified kneeling down in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, with an orange jumpsuit next to a masked jihadi, the field preview for the world cup final. The Islamic State equally produced a graphic depicting a camouflaged terrorist outside a stadium armed with a gun and explosives.
During an encounter between Rwanda vs Uganda at CHAN 2020 in Cameroon, some minutes before CAF protocol, there was an unexplainable power outrage for about five minutes to kickoff time (7:55pm, CAT) at the Douala Reunification Stadium.
In 2022, during a match between Cameroon vs Comoros at the 60000 capacity Olembe stadium in Yaounde-Cameroon, hundreds of people forced themselves in to the stadium, which caused a stampede, leaving 08 persons dead and 47 others injured. The President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Patrice Motsepe, suspended the use of the stadium and requested the government to provide additional roads to access the stadium. Matches initially scheduled to take place at the Olembe stadium were moved to Douala, Japoma stadium and the Yaounde Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium. Similarly, few minutes to the kick-off the Champions League Finals in France, security was unable to manage the crowd at the entrance of the stadium. These incidents could be exploited by terrorist organizations to cause mass casualties.
Briefings are essential prior and post events due to the emerging weaponized drones use by terrorist groups against international and regional actors. Despite threats from terrorists prior to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, the host country incorporated innovative security strategies; from anti-drones to reconnaissance CCTV cameras and electronic warfare assets for safety of the fans and security of the event. The security of spectators and foreign dignitaries is essential during major sporting events, and particularly if there is an incident as that prior to the kick-off the Champions League Finals in France in 2022, where law enforcement officers encounter serious challenges in managing the crowd at the entrance of the stadium.
Read
The Stade de France terrorist attacks, 10 years on: ‘There was a huge boom and my body shook’. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6801059/2025/11/13state-de -france-bataclan-terrorist-attacks/
Webpage of the Saint-Denise Convention: https://www.coe.int/en/web/sport/safety-security-and-service-appraoch-convention
https://www.rcc.int/swp/news/25/why-the-lone-jihadi-poses-the-greatest-terror-threat-to-thissummersworld-cup-in-russia
