Is it time game? Or rather a wrong tactic? Or does the defensive orientation of the German government simply not really fit in with the modern forward defence in top European football? In any case, Germany's top politicians are still very reluctant to stir up enthusiasm for the 2024 European Football Championship. This actually takes place in Germany. And in Sunday speeches, of course, it should be a summer fairy tale like the 2006 World Cup at home, i.e. of course in a pristine white way without the dark shadows of the belated suspicions of corruption surrounding the awarding of the tournament. Markus Stenger, meanwhile, is slowly beginning to have his doubts as to whether a new summer fairy tale is really possible and wanted. After all, Stenger is the managing director of the joint venture Euro 2024 GmbH, which was founded by the German Football Association (DFB) together with the European football association UEFA, and alongside the more representative Philipp Lahm, he is the actual head of organisation of the tournament, which kicks off on 14 June 2024.
Daniel Meuren
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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At the sports management conference of the Accadis University in Bad Homburg, Stenger warned that federal politics must get going as soon as possible if it wants to use the tournament to cultivate its image, as it did in 2006. "I don't feel the momentum we had before the 2006 World Cup," said Stenger. He did not address the allegations in concrete terms. But at least from Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, Stenger would probably have liked to hear a little more about the upcoming continental football tournament after her involvement around the World Cup in Qatar in November, including the demonstrative wearing of the One Love armband in the official gallery. And German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is apparently much less connected to sport than Gerhard "Acker" Schröder once was until he was voted out of office six months before the tournament. If Stenger has been understood correctly, he fears that Germany is in danger of missing out on the opportunity to cultivate its image again, as it did in 2006.
"Frankfurt stands for the message"
Meanwhile, in the image video of the European Championship venue Frankfurt, everything is wonderfully simple: From the bird's eye view of the drone flight over the Main, Römer and skyline to the Waldstadion, only beaming people can be seen in imperial weather. Everything looks the same as it once did in the summer fairy tale 1.0, when Germany shone so brightly that its image was polished up worldwide.
Christoph Schäfer, now responsible for sports sponsorship at the local European Championship partner Mainova and working for a marketing agency around the World Cup when he started his career in 2006, was very confident on Monday at the Sports Management Days of the Accadis University in Bad Homburg that, if not Germany, then at least Frankfurt would experience a "summer fairy tale 2024.2" next year during the 0 European Football Championship. "If there is one city that lives by the tournament slogan 'United by football – a club in the heart of Europe' and stands for the idea of Euro 2024, then it is Frankfurt with its 177 nations and its diversity," said Schäfer. "Frankfurt can make its welcoming culture visible. This is a high value at a time when we have to be attractive to the brightest minds so that we can inspire them to work in Frankfurt."