Already at 7 pm, admission to Hanover's football stadium was temporarily closed following a report of a suspicious object.
Half an hour later, the police decided that the match, which would start at 20.45, would be canceled completely.
Planned bombing
"We have concrete evidence that someone planned to detonate an explosive device inside the stadium," Hanover police chief Volker Kluwe told German TV shortly after the decision was made.
After the arena was emptied of people, the police searched it but without stating the type of threat that was behind the measure.
Several media outlets reported on a planned bomb attack on "the whole of Hanover" and that explosives had been found in an ambulance, but this information turned out to be unfounded.
No explosives had been found, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziére was able to tell at a press conference.
But he did not want to answer why the match was canceled when he was asked.
- I understand the question and the upcoming questions - what was the background?
What could happen?
Why did you decide to cancel?
You must understand that I can not answer them.
Why?
Some of the answers would frighten the population.
Some would complicate our future work, said Thomas de Maiziére.
Merkel would have been there
The evacuation of the stadium should have gone smoothly.
According to the plan, Chancellor Angela Merkel and several other ministers from the German government would watch the match on the spot.
It is already clear that Belgium will cancel an international match against Spain, which should have been played in Brussels.
Also for security reasons.
The Belgian Football Association took the decision after the government advised against playing the international match for security reasons.
It was during Germany's friendly match against France on Friday that suicide bombers struck outside the Parc des Princes arena in Paris.