A friendly football match between Germany and the Netherlands was called off some 90 minutes before the planned kick-off Tuesday after warnings of a possible attack targeting the game.
"We had concrete warnings that someone in the stadium wanted to detonate explosives," Hanover chief of police Volker Kluwe told DPA.
The warning was sufficient to be taken seriously, the sources said.
The game would have been played four days after the terror attacks in Paris amid tight security, was cancelled. Then, several attackers wearing suicide belts blew themselves up outside the Stade de France as Germany played a friendly with France.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere and his counterpart from the state of Lower Saxony, where Hanover is located, were to provide details in a news conference later Tuesday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and several senior cabinet members had been due to attend the match.
The stadium was sealed off for half an hour earlier in the evening after the discovery of a suspicious suitcase. The stadium and some streets in the area were closed before police said the object posed no threat.
Fans, who had started filling the HDI Arena for the game, were asked to leave in orderly fashion when the game was cancelled.
"Ladies and gentlemen, dear football friends. I am sorry but the game has been cancelled on short notice. Please remain calm! There is no imminent danger or anything else. Please go home in a normal way," police said in an announcement over the stadium speaker system.
Extra police, many armed with automatic weapons, has been deployed for the game. All available police officers were being deployed in Hanover, a police spokeswoman said without giving further details.
The German football federation (DFB) had considered calling off Tuesday's match in the days ahead of the game.
However federation and team officials agreed to go ahead with the game in solidarity with France and the relatives and victims of the Paris attacks.
The team was on its way from the hotel to the stadium and turned back when it was informed of the cancellation.
Belgium's Tuesday friendly with European champions Spain was also called off, late Monday, in the wake of the attacks.
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