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Winners in Focus – Safety & Security Award

Nominations for our Safety & Security Award close this Friday 7 February 2014 at midnight (GMT).

As part of our Stadium Business Awards ‘Winners In Focus’ series, we take a look back at Donbass Arena who won the Safety & Security 2013 Award – for their exemplary management of the storm-ridden Ukraine-France EURO 2012 match.

The previous three Safety & Security Award winners were: Maurizio Francini – AFC Fiorentina, Wembley Stadium – Crowd Safety Team and Croke Park Stadium.

The judging panel commented: “Anyone who witnessed the extreme weather during this EURO2012 match (where more than a month’s rain fell in one hour, just after kickoff), will know that it was the stadium safety procedures that averted major damage or loss of life.”

Safety and Security Award_Donbass Arena

“This was the first time a game had been temporarily suspended in a major tournament since the 1974 FIFA World Cup and the first time a game had ever been suspended in the European Championship.”

“UEFA has subsequently used the events of last summer – and the stadium management team’s reaction to events – as a case study in effective Safety & Security but also in Event Operations. Incredibly, the game was not cancelled but, with the efforts of the stadium management behind the scenes, was resumed after just 60 minutes.”

The Donbass Arena beat several other notable shortlisted entries to the award, including:

  • Nigel Cox, Head of Stadium Operations, RFU/Twickenham Stadium, UK
  • Olympique de Marseille FC’s ‘incident-free’ match operations during full-scale stadium reconstruction, France
  • BC Place’s 2012 Safety & Security Programme, Canada

Do you have a nomination worthy of winning our 2014 award? We’d love to hear from you…