National team - Majority do not believe in a summer fairytale 2.0 at the European Championships
Only a small proportion of Germans believe in a repeat of the summer soccer fairytale of 2006 at next summer's home European Championships.
In a representative survey conducted by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of Deutsche Presse-Agentur, five percent of respondents said that they "yes, definitely" expected a similar high spirits. Twelve percent could imagine this to some extent. The groups for Euro 2024 are being drawn today in Hamburg.
A total of 65% of those surveyed said that they did not or definitely did not expect another summer fairytale like the home World Cup almost 18 years ago. 17 percent did not say. The term was once coined due to the peaceful atmosphere, including tens of thousands of fans from abroad, the long-lasting good weather and the sporting success of the DFB team, which finished third in 2006.
Deep sporting crisis
The current national team of national coach Julian Nagelsmann has been in a deep sporting crisis for years. At the last two World Cups under Nagelsmann's predecessors Joachim Löw (2018) and Hansi Flick (2022), the team finished after the preliminary round; at the 2021 European Championship, the DFB team under Löw only reached the round of 16 with difficulty, where England (0:2) were too strong.
"The truth will come in the summer," said DFB sports director Rudi Völler during a sponsor meeting in Hamburg. The former DFB team boss said that the force of public opinion would have to be endured until then.
Socio-political significance of the European Championship
The home European Championship will be kicked off under the motto "United by Football". Tournament director Philipp Lahm, who scored Germany's first goal of the tournament against Costa Rica in 2006, has repeatedly emphasized the socio-political significance of the European Championships.
He believes "that a tournament like this can help people come together again, talk to each other and celebrate", said the 2014 world champion on Deutschlandfunk's "Players - Der Sportpodcast". "And that we defend what we have: Freedom, peaceful coexistence, democracy."
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Source: www.stern.de
