German national team forced to evacuate team hotel in Paris over a possible bomb threat

Germany is set to play France tonight in an international friendly

German national team has been forced to evacuate their team hotel on Friday morning over a suspected bomb threat, The Independent reports. The incident took place in Paris, where the world champions have travelled to face France in an International friendly match tonight.

Oliver Bierhoff, team’s General Manager confirmed the news and told German newspaper Express that the team safely vacated the hotel after the threat came out.

"There was a bomb threat. The hotel has been widely cordoned off and evacuated," the ex-German international said.

Die Mannschaft were staying in the five-star Molitor hotel which is situated about 5km from the Eiffel Tower. The news broke out just before lunchtime and the evacuation process started immediately.

The Molitor hotel where the German team was staying

The team has moved to a sports complex since which is established in the vicinity of Roland Garros, the venue for tennis grand-slam French Open. The players will go about their training before the match in the complex itself.

The head of the German football federation (DFB) security team Hendrik Grosse Lefert stated that it is not yet decided as to when the team will be taken back to the hotel.

"The French police have informed us that an anonymous bomb threat had been made," he said.

"Together with our colleagues, we decided to evacuate the hotel to enable them to go through and examine the rooms and conference rooms thoroughly."

The Paris Police department stated that the search squad will complete its task by 2.30 pm local time. "The hotel is being searched, the action will be completed approximately around 2.30 p.m..", the police department informed news agency SID.

The team is supposed to come back to the hotel to pick up their match equipment and kits after which they will travel to the Stade de France to play the match.

This is the scene outside of Germany's hotel in #Paris after the bomb threat. #DFB https://t.co/Y3qapVYQ8o

— DW Sports (@dw_sports) November 13, 2015

German team hotel in Paris evacuated after bomb threat https://t.co/sDyuyJtlDs (in German)

— Marcus Christenson (@m_christenson) November 13, 2015

Les Bleus host the world champions for the friendly match, which will be a repeat of the 2014 World Cup quarterfinal. The French team will be without the services of Karim Benzema and Mathieu Valbuena, who are involved in a court case where Benzema has been charged with "complicity in a blackmail attempt" against the latter.

The match kicks off at 1.30 am IST.