Helmut Spahn, Executive Director of the ICSS, appointed as UEFA Security Officer

Munich-Germany, May 17, 2012: The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), the not-for-profit institution that specializes in sport security and integrity, has announced today that Executive Director, Helmut Spahn, has been appointed as UEFA Security Officer for the men’s and women’s UEFA Champions League finals.

Spahn, a former Head of Security for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2011 Women’s FIFA World Cup, will work alongside Scotland’s Willie McDougall, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and the various stakeholders in Munich to deliver critical security components for Europe’s premier club football tournament, including crisis and risk analysis, match day operations, and overall stadia and crowd management.

Speaking of his appointment, Helmut Spahn, Executive Director of the ICSS, said: “I am delighted to be involved in this year’s men’s and women’s UEFA Champions League finals and look forward to working with UEFA, the LOC and all stakeholders to deliver two safe and successful events. With nearly 300 million viewers around the world, the UEFA Champions League final is now one of the most watched TV events on the planet. There are many more major sporting events taking place this summer and I hope that this appointment demonstrates the ICSS’s commitment to sharing knowledge and best practice in the world of sport security.”

The ICSS and its team of world-leading experts are currently involved in a number of major sporting events and sport security and integrity projects around the world. Most recently, the ICSS supported the IIHF in the delivery of the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, taking place in Finland and Sweden, and are also driving two major initiatives with the Institute for Fan Culture (IfF) into fan behaviour and the Université Paris I – Panthéon-Sorbonne which will see the creation of a new central hub to promote and support global sporting integrity.