The DFB is urgently looking for the destroyed EM euphoria
When the DFB submitted its bid for the 2024 European Championship ten years ago, there was still soccer euphoria in Germany. But a lot has changed since then: The DFB team crashed and the association lost a whole series of presidents. A new "summer fairytale" is a long way off.
On September 27, 2018, Reinhard Grindel celebrated the German Football Association (DFB) - and above all himself. "I have fought. Not for myself, but for the DFB. For the big goal of achieving success for German soccer with the 2024 European Championship," said the then DFB President jubilantly on the day the final round was awarded to Germany. Six months later, he had to resign.
The fact that the DFB has had four presidents and two interim bosses at the helm since the bid was announced on October 24, 2013 says everything about the state of the world's largest single sports association. Nevertheless, the award was ultimately a clear-cut decision. The vote of the Executive Committee of the European Football Union (UEFA) was clearly in favor of Germany with 12:4 and one abstention; the competitor from Turkey had no chance.
The names of the well-wishers from the world of politics, who are no longer in office, show just how long ago the whole thing took place. "We are looking forward to exciting matches at the European Championships and to the visit of fans from all over Europe," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "This will be an opportunity to show what we stand for in Germany: For openness to the world and tolerance, for freedom and respect," said Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
Five years from interest to award
In the run-up to the vote, UEFA had given the German bid the better rating in its evaluation report. There was soon talk of a "summer fairytale 2.0" - 18 years after the 2006 World Cup. However, the path to the second European Championship finals on German soil after 1988 was not quite so easy.
After the then DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach expressed the association's interest at the Bundestag in Nuremberg in October 2013, the DFB dropped out of the race for the final round of the pan-European European Championship planned for 2020 a year later. Avoiding the battle against London was intended to increase the chances of 2024.
Another year later, Niersbach had to resign in the wake of the Sommermärchen affair. Niersbach's successor Grindel proclaimed the 2024 European Championship a "flagship project". In January 2017, the DFB Executive Committee officially decided to bid, with Turkey following suit a month later. Philipp Lahm joined as a European Championship ambassador at the end of 2017.
The final phase of the bid began on April 24, 2018, when the DFB submitted its 868-page bid to UEFA, followed two days later by Turkey's documents. To give its bid a further boost, the DFB announced on August 16, 2018 that Lahm would take over as tournament director if the bid was successful. Shortly afterwards, there were celebrations.
The euphoria at the time has faded
However, many of the hopes associated with winning the bid were not fulfilled. There was no peace in the crisis-ridden DFB, the national team is still at rock bottom and there is hardly any euphoria in the country six months before the tournament (June 14 to July 14).
Grindel had imagined things to be very different when the DFB employees celebrated the success with warm sausages and draught beer at the association's headquarters in Frankfurt am Main the day after the award: "This is a great day for top-level and grassroots soccer in Germany." Some five years later, the reality looks different. With the group draw this Saturday (5.45 pm/RTL and in the ntv.de live ticker), however, the hot phase of the tournament is slowly beginning.
The DFB's bid for hosting the UEFA European Football Championship 2024 initially received considerable soccer enthusiasm in Germany. Despite winning the hosting right with the support of UEFA, the DFB has faced numerous challenges, such as team crashes and frequent leadership changes, making a repeat of the 2006 "summer fairytale" seem distant.
The DFB's bid for hosting the European Football Championship 2024 was initially backed by UEFA, highlighting its strong potential to host an outstanding competition. However, a variety of setbacks, including the team's struggles and leadership transitions, have cast a shadow on the preliminary excitement for the tournament.
Source: www.ntv.de
