The former gendarme, Daniel Nivel, will attend the Germany national team’s opening match at EURO 2016, 18 years after the life-threatening attack on him by German hooligans during the 1998 World Cup. The 61-year-old, who was in a coma for a week after suffering a fractured skull, will take the DFB up on their invitation to watch the clash with Ukraine on Sunday (21:00 CEST, live on ARD).
“We are very pleased that Mr. Nivel has accepted our invitation, and we hope that his current medical state allows him to make the trip to Lille”, says DFB president Reinhard Grindel. Nivel’s acceptance is “a lovely sign and an acknowledgement that the DFB have been continuously looking out for him since the terrible incident 18 years ago – not least through the creation of the Daniel Nivel Foundation.”
“A visit out of the public eye”
Daniel Nivel, who is still scarred and unable to work, will not be presented to the masses however. “We should all respect that his visit is going to take place out of the public eye”, stressed Reinhard Grindel.
Nivel was most brutally attacked in Lens on 21st June 1998, during Germany’s 2-2 group stage match against Yugoslavia at the Felix Bollaert Stadium. Four of the attackers later received prison sentences ranging from three and a half to ten years by the Essen regional court. Now blind in one eye, Nivel lives with his wife in Arras, around 50 kilometres south of Lille. The Daniel Nivel Foundation was founded in 2000. It works to stop violence, to explore the reasons for violence in relation to football, and to help victims.
The former gendarme, Daniel Nivel, will attend the Germany national team’s opening match at EURO 2016, 18 years after the life-threatening attack on him by German hooligans during the 1998 World Cup. The 61-year-old, who was in a coma for a week after suffering a fractured skull, will take the DFB up on their invitation to watch the clash with Ukraine on Sunday (21:00 CEST, live on ARD).
“We are very pleased that Mr. Nivel has accepted our invitation, and we hope that his current medical state allows him to make the trip to Lille”, says DFB president Reinhard Grindel. Nivel’s acceptance is “a lovely sign and an acknowledgement that the DFB have been continuously looking out for him since the terrible incident 18 years ago – not least through the creation of the Daniel Nivel Foundation.”
“A visit out of the public eye”
Daniel Nivel, who is still scarred and unable to work, will not be presented to the masses however. “We should all respect that his visit is going to take place out of the public eye”, stressed Reinhard Grindel.
Nivel was most brutally attacked in Lens on 21st June 1998, during Germany’s 2-2 group stage match against Yugoslavia at the Felix Bollaert Stadium. Four of the attackers later received prison sentences ranging from three and a half to ten years by the Essen regional court. Now blind in one eye, Nivel lives with his wife in Arras, around 50 kilometres south of Lille. The Daniel Nivel Foundation was founded in 2000. It works to stop violence, to explore the reasons for violence in relation to football, and to help victims.
