Millions of spectators for the first major sporting event since the Covid-19 pandemic: Germany is preparing to host the continent’s teams in a European Championship within a month under the threat of attacks.
Seven weeks before the opening of the Paris Olympic Games, in a year 2024 full of sporting events, Germany will be the center of attention of the football world between June 14th and July 14th, alongside the United States, which will host the Copa América from June 20th to July 14th.
The previous edition of the European national team championship was impacted by the pandemic and had to be postponed for a year, to June 2021, which also had consequences for the health situation, with a reduction in stadium capacity to avoid crowds.
Three years later, restrictions have been lifted and 2.7 million fans are expected to be present at the tournament’s ten stadiums from the opening match on June 14 between Germany and Scotland in Munich until the final. a month later, in Berlin.
The different phases of ticket sales have been a success, whether through the lottery system (20 million interested parties for 1.2 million tickets), the places reserved for each federation or the tickets awarded to the fastest.
Albärt rides the Umadum Ferris Wheel in Munich 🐻🎡#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/yOyxyDdhre
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) May 13, 2024
Islamist threat as in 2016
Germany is preparing for an influx of around 12 million fans — according to forecasts — from across the continent, who will be spread across the ten cities that will host the matches.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas and the attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) at the end of March in Moscow (which left 144 dead), place the Islamist threat as the biggest challenge to be overcome by German organizers.
For the country, the risk of an attack “is real and has been at its highest level for some time”, declared the director of internal intelligence, Thomas Haldenwang, at the end of November.
“We make every effort to detect Islamist terrorist plans in time and prevent them,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper at the end of March.
She also announced that during the tournament, controls will be “temporarily” reestablished at all its borders.
The geopolitical context is similar to that of France, in the 2016 Euro Cup, a few months after the attacks in January and November 2015 in Paris and in March 2016 in Brussels, by the same cell that attacked the Stade de France and several points in the French capital. four months earlier. But the competition ended up being played without attacks and in a festive atmosphere.
Convocations on Thursday
The call-ups for the 26 players from each team will be announced starting this Thursday.
The French team, runner-up in the world, is among the favorites for the title, along with England, finalist in the 2020 Euro Cup. Germany, in turn, seems to have recovered from a difficult year and has the support of the fans to fight for the trophy.
The president of the Euro-2024 organizing committee, Philipp Lahm, has reiterated for months in every interview he gives that the success of the tournament depends on strong popular enthusiasm, which can only occur in the case of a good performance by the German team, as happened at the 2006 World Cup (third place).
Germany will use eight of the ten stadiums for the 2006 World Cup.
The Champions League final, on June 1st, in London, with Borussia Dortmund (against Real Madrid), a few days after the Europa League final, with Bayer Leverkusen (against Atalanta), should serve as a warm-up for German fans.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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