Budapest police said they are analysing camera footage after several supporters fought in the early hours of Saturday, with three people arrested ahead of the Champions League final between Paris St-Germain and Arsenal.
The match at Puskas Arena at 17:00 BST has put team leadership in the spotlight, which is why searches for "arsenal coach" have spiked as supporters and media converge on the city for a high-profile evening clash.
The BRFK 7th District Police Department said: "Several fans got into a fight on May 30, 2026, at around 00:20 in Budapest's 7th district, on Kiraly Street." Police already detained two Portuguese men and one British man after a separate scuffle at the official fan festival site and charged them with disorderly conduct.
Authorities described other incidents on the same night: a British man was arrested after climbing onto the roof of a parked car and damaging the vehicle, and footage circulating online showed what was said to be about 30 supporters of each club brawling and lighting flares. The BRFK 7th District Police Department added: "The BRFK 7th District Police Department has initiated proceedings against unknown perpetrators for the crime of gang violence, within the framework of which the camera recordings are also being analysed."
The violence and the arrests come as Hungary prepares what Deputy National Police Chief Zoltan Janos Kuczik called an unprecedented security operation. "This will be the largest single-day police deployment in Hungary's history," Kuczik said, with nearly 4,000 officers stationed across the capital to manage crowds, ticketless arrivals and the fan zones.
Organisers expect tens of thousands of supporters to travel to Budapest without tickets, a pressure the police deployment is designed to absorb. Officers are now working through hours of surveillance video and festival-area cameras to identify individuals involved in the Kiraly Street incident and the fan-zone violence; investigators say the camera analysis is central to building cases beyond the three arrests already made.
Security preparations for the match began more than a year ago and the event has been treated as high-risk throughout planning. Yet the early-morning brawl and the social-media footage that followed underline a persistent gap between long-term planning and volatile behaviour when tens of thousands of fans mix in the streets and fan sites.
Police say their inquiries are continuing and that camera evidence will determine whether further charges are brought. How many people the recordings will identify — and whether more arrests follow before the 17:00 BST kick-off at Puskas Arena — remains the central unanswered question as the city moves from policing a festival atmosphere to securing a major sporting final.
