During Euro 2024, there were reports of suspected attacks by Russian hackers targeting the online broadcasting of the tournament. The official broadcaster of Euro 2024 in Poland, TVP, confirmed multiple hacking incidents during the tournament, with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks causing disruptions during the online broadcast of two Polish team matches.
The first attack occurred during the Poland-Netherlands match, with a subsequent incident on June 21 during the Poland-Austria match, both impacting the ability of fans to watch the games online. Despite the challenges, TVP worked with domestic network operators to address the issues and restore services, although the disruptions caused frustration for Polish football fans.
Poland’s Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs, Pawel Olszewski, stated that there was evidence pointing to Russian hackers being behind the attacks, possibly intending to prevent Polish fans from watching their national team’s matches online.
In response to the situation, TVP deployed an alternative website to continue broadcasting the remaining matches of Euro 2024, including Poland’s final match against France.