Environmental campaign group Greenpeace has apologised after its protest stunt at the Germany-France Euros 2020 match went wrong and two people were injured.
A powered paraglider lost control as the pilot tried to make an emergency landing on the pitch, hitting overhead camera wires attached to the roof.
He careened a few metres from the heads of spectators before landing badly on the Bayern Munich field. Debris fell on the turf and main grandstand, narrowly missing France coach Didier Deschamps at pitch side.
German officials said the paraglider was in the crosshairs of police snipers as he landed and could have been killed.
“The snipers already had him in their sights,” said Bavaria’s interior minister Joachim Herrmann.
“If the police had come to the conclusion that it was a terrorist attack, he would have paid for it with his life.”
Only the large Greenpeace logo emblazoned on the yellow canopy of the parachute microlight saved him, he said.
Greenpeace spokesperson Benjamin Stephan apologised for the botched protest and the injuries caused, saying that the plan had been to fly over the stadium and not to land in it.
“The paraglider didn’t want to go into the stadium yesterday. The pilot wanted to fly over the stadium while maintaining the necessary safety distance and only let a balloon float into the stadium with a message to Volkswagen, a main sponsor, with the demand that they get out of the production of climate-damaging diesel and gasoline engines quicker,” Mr Stephan said.
“There was a technical problem during the flight over. The hand throttle of the electric para motor failed, and because there was no more thrust, the glider suddenly lost height.”
He said the pilot had no option but to make an emergency landing on the field after striking the steel cables attached to the stadium’s roof.
The paraglider had a large yellow parachute with the Greenpeace name on it and the message: "KICK OUT OIL!"
A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised the Greenpeace stunt and said those behind it should reflect on what had happened.
“This was an irresponsible action that put people in great danger,” Steffen Seibert said.
It was a relief nothing more serious had happened, he said.
He said the group should “critically reflect on the purpose of such actions, which are about maximum spectacle for maximum PR-effect”.
Police spokesman Andreas Franken said the two men who were hurt both sustained light head injuries and have been discharged from hospital. They had been working at the game.
Security measures will be toughened for Saturday’s match between Germany and Portugal.