A FOOTBALL fan who secured a ticket for Sunday’s Euros final was left heartbroken when he was turned away from the stadium after a queue jumper barged through the turnstiles, leaving his ticket invalid.

Super fan Robert England, 30, spent thousands getting to every England match at the tournament in Germany.

And after getting through two of the three security checks to get into the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, he should have been just moments away from taking his seat - but then disaster struck.

Robert, a schoolfriend of England star John Stones said: “You go through a number of checks and then you get your bags and body searched and that was all fine.

“The third and final check was scanning the QR code before going in through the turnstiles. It turned green so I started walking through which is when the turnstiles stopped.

“I didn’t know what was happening - but I turned around and there was a fellow England fan who asked me to sneak him in. I told him that he wasn’t allowed to come through.”

The turnstile became jammed, attracting the attention of security staff who then pounced.

“Before I knew it, some stewards piled on top of us and then dragged us out. I was still very calm about the situation because I had a ticket and I hadn’t done anything wrong - I don’t drink so it wasn’t as though I was causing any trouble.”

But despite explaining what had happened, Robert’s ticket was rendered invalid as it had already triggered the turnstile - so both he and the queue jumper were escorted away from the stadium.

And to add insult to injury, when he tried to explain what had happened, he claims the German stewards and police laughed in his face.

While his friend managed to get into the stadium to watch the match, Robert was left outside.

“I appreciate there’s a reputation of England fans - but I was completely sober,” he added.

“The ticket office said they couldn’t do anything and I found an FA member who seemed genuinely heartbroken but said it was something that had happened to roughly 20 people already that night.

“I then went to the head steward - he just laughed at me.

“It’s extremely heartbreaking - I’m a 30-year-old man but I was crying down the phone to my mum and dad.

“It’s just one of the worst things that’s happened to me.”

Robert attended his first game for his beloved country against Azerbaijan at St James’ Park in 2005.

Goals from Steven Gerrard and David Beckham in a 2-0 win started his love affair for following his country home and away.

In the Euro 2024 qualifiers, he attended every home match and travelled to every away game with his friend Reece Ronan - often without a ticket - ending up in a fan zone or local pub to soak up the atmosphere.

Robert added: “I’ve always been a massive England fan and I went to all the qualifiers at home.

“It was around Christmas time when I planned for the tournament - I planned out what I thought would be the route to the final if we finished first in our group and I tried to book tickets for each game from there.”

He estimates he spent almost £3,000 on his trip - which included travelling back to Barnsley on a number of occasions before jetting off to different areas of Germany.

“I went into the ballots for each of the games and luckily they were all in West Germany until the final,” he added.

“I had one week off work for the last two group games and then a week off for the semi-final and final - I did flights there and back in between that.

“It was just incredible - it’s always been one of my big goals to travel and this helped me do that.

“It was an unbelievable high for me. It was my first ever tournament and we’d managed to get to the final.

“Reece and I got into the centre of Berlin with plenty of time and we were so excited.”