Football fans in stitches as 'Gareth Southgate' spotted working as a German cop

Football fans have been left in stitches as a Gareth Southgate lookalike - really a German police officer - was spotted on Wednesday afternoon.

A video was widely circulated on X ahead of England’s Euro 2024 semifinal match against the Netherlands on Wednesday. It will take place at 8pm in Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion.

The police officer bearing an uncanny resemblance to Southgate was surrounded by English fans - all singing a parody of Atomic Kitten’s “Whole Again”, with lyrics reworked to praise Southgate.

One of his fellow officers also appears to be filming the scene behind him.

The poster said: "No wonder England won’t win anything when Southgate double shifting as a German copper."

One commenter said: “Lol this has to be AI generated the similarities are too strong.” Another replied saying: “Way too true, and the eyebrow flinch at the end of the video too, similar to Southgate”.

Another said: “He’s loving the attention,” with another replying “And fair play. His colleague recording it with a big smile on his face. If that was England the cops would have put a stop to it and arrested anyone who carried on singing.”

Finally, another replied saying: “His boss definitely knows and gave him that patch on purpose.”

Having lost the Euros final to Italy in 2021, England is seeking its first major men’s trophy since winning the World Cup in 1966.

England beat Switzerland on penalties to reach the last four last Saturday July 6, winning 5-3. The Netherlands beat Turkey 2-1 on the same day.

The winner of Wednesday’s match will face Spain, who beat France 2-1 on Tuesday July 9.

Last night, England and Dutch fans were evacuated from the Dortmund fan zone due to a severe storm warning. They had gathered to watch the first semifinal but a message flashed up on the screen at 9pm local time asking fans to leave the area quickly.