When the sad rooster Balthazar was banned from the stadium

Useless EM knowledge - When the sad rooster Balthazar was banned from the stadium

The draw for the 2024 European Championships in Germany takes place today in Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie concert hall - marking the start of a new chapter in the exciting history of the European Championships. Reason enough for some of the most incredible, curious and surprising stories in European Championship history!

Since the 1982 World Cup in Spain, French nurse Clément Tomaszewski had traveled to every tournament in which his national team took part. And since the 1998 World Cup in his own country, he has always had his cockerel Balthazar at his side. But the living lucky charm was denied entry to his French team's Euro 2016 final in Paris of all places. The sad rooster and his owner were banned from the stadium. And bad luck for the Équipe Tricolore. They lost the final against Portugal.

Incidentally, Balthazar the cockerel had already missed out once before. At the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, he had to stay at home due to bird flu. Although Tomaszewski got himself a double at the animal market in Seoul, it backfired. France, the reigning world champions, were eliminated in the preliminary round without scoring a single goal.

Why Shkodran is now called Shkodran

Who doesn't remember the story of little Shkodran? Back then, before the German team's first match at Euro 2016 in France, a journalist and father-to-be declared somewhat cockily that he wanted to name his son after the scorer of Germany's first goal in the opening match against Ukraine. Funnily enough, he had said to his colleagues in a lucid moment that it would certainly not be Mustafi of all people who scored the goal. But that's exactly what happened in the 19th minute of the match. When Mustafi heard about the story, he said with a grin: "I'd buy little Shkodran an ice cream when I get back to Germany and his name is like mine." Unfortunately, there is no record of whether this ever happened.

But there is another reason why Euro 2016 has stuck in the long-term memory of all fans - because it was characterized by boring soccer for long stretches. And so the TV producers often preferred to watch the stands rather than the pitch. And indeed, the fans there were often more imaginative than the players on the pitch. One match in particular caught the eye with five pithy lads with red, burnt faces and a certain beer-swillingness in their eyes. They were undoubtedly men from the island. They proudly held up a banner: "Please don't film us. Our wives think we're fishing in West Wales". In the end, they received more attention than all 22 players on the pitch put together.

Too much humanity after the European Championship exit

And this story also made the headlines - because there had never been anything like it before in the history of the European Championship. Immediately after the bitter preliminary round exit at the 2008 European Championship, French national team coach Raymond Domenech stood in front of the TV cameras after the bitter defeat against Italy and answered the question about his professional future with these memorable sentences: "I only have one plan, and that is to marry Estelle. I'm asking her to marry me today."

His girlfriend at the time, Estelle Denis, didn't know what was happening to her - because she was sitting in a live TV studio during the words of her supposed future husband Raymond. One day later, Domenech was already regretting his unusual approach: "I showed a touch of humanity at a moment when I should have remained professional." The two never actually got married.

England's young star Wayne Rooney was able to rejoice at the 2004 European Championship in Portugal. There, at the age of 18 years, seven months and 24 days, he scored in the 23rd minute of the preliminary round match against Switzerland to make it 1-0 for England - and was now the youngest European Championship goalscorer of all time. But that was only for an incredible four days. Switzerland's Johan Vonlanthen then scored a goal in the group game against France and was now the new record holder at 18 years, four months and 20 days. Incidentally, this record has stood ever since.

DJ Ötzi dances the Rehakles

The following story comes from the unbelievable but true category. Our national keeper at the 1988 European Championship in his own country, Eike Immel, was once rejected from the Bundeswehr due to a "visual defect". However, team boss Beckenbauer then declared him fit for national service on the green pitch. And so Immel stood in the box for all of the German team's games in the summer of 1988 - and did a good job.

DJ Ötzi had become famous almost overnight with his hit "Anton aus Tirol". And he reacted just as quickly after the 2004 European Championships, because no sooner had the miracle of Portugal taken place at the European Championships than the Austrian crooner had already dedicated the song "Tanz den Rehakles" to the successful Greek coach Otto Rehhagel after the surprising title win at the European Football Championships. DJ Ötzi sang lively to sirtaki rhythms: "Come dance the Rehakles with me. Dance around the Acropolis. Come dance the Rehakles with me. If you're a real Greek."

Saalbau Witten inspires the heroes of 1980

Incidentally, the German national soccer team's favorite song at the victorious 1980 European Championship was the hit song "Sie müssen nur den Nippel durch die Lasche zieh'n" by Mike Krüger. The national players whistled and sang the song all day long, which spent 26 weeks at number one in the German charts. Incidentally, Mike Krüger recorded the LP, which sold 600,000 copies, on two evenings at the Saalbau in Witten.

On the second evening, however, his guest Karl Dall had to take over most of the show - because Krüger could only croak quietly due to an infection. However, this did not detract from the success of the song. Quite the opposite. At the latest after the national team's victory at the European Championships, the song was finally on everyone's lips. It will be interesting to see which song will accompany our current DFB team to victory.