(Munich) The start of Euro 2024 football, organized in a tense political and geopolitical context, was given with the start of the opening match between Germany, the organizing country, and Scotland, Friday evening in Munich.
Twenty-four nations will compete during this 17th European Championship during which 51 matches will be played. The final will take place on July 14 in Berlin and will determine the successor to defending champion Italy.
After a short but very colorful opening ceremony, the Henri Delaunay Cup was brought onto the pitch before kick-off by the wife of former German international Franz Beckenbauer, who died on January 7, and by the former Mannschaft captains Bernard Dietz, European champion in 1980, and Jürgen Klinsmann, crowned in 1996.
And in the 10th minute, German Florian Wirtz scored the first goal of the competition. Then the locals took off in the 19th minute through Jamal Musiala.
Less than a week after European elections marked by a surge in populist parties in several countries, Euro 2024 must bring Europeans together around the football, at a time when war is still raging on the continent. The Ukrainian selection is also one of the 24 who dream of succeeding the Italian Nazionale, winner in 2021.
“For our democratic and European values, Euro 2024 can be used at any time,” said tournament director Philipp Lahm, in an interview with the German agency SID, a subsidiary of AFP, recognizing that a such competition is “always” a platform for social and political themes.
“Europe is a great country. Welcome to Euro football,” launched the popular German daily Bild in its Friday edition, with 24 faces of supporters in the colors of the qualified countries, on a central double page in its first section.
“The more colorful it is, the better. This means that alongside black-red-gold (the German colors, Editor’s note), I will also be happy about other colors and flags of the tournament teams,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday.
Beyond the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the context of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas also gives rise to a “diffuse high risk”, according to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, even if no threat of attack has not been clearly identified.
Three years after a European Championship postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in stadiums with reduced capacity and spread across 11 different cities on the continent, ranging from Seville to Baku, the 2024 edition returns to of the most classic, in Germany, with its experience of the 2006 World Cup. Above all, all the stadiums have now returned to a normal configuration, with 2.7 million spectators expected in the 10 stadiums to follow the 51 matches of the tournament.
Privilege of the host country, the Mannschaft of Julian Nagelsmann therefore opened the ball in front of 66,000 spectators in Munich, hoping to unite an entire country behind it, on the model of the “summer fairy tale” (“Sommermärchen”) of 2006, when the Germans finished third in a World Cup marked by incredible fervor.
Teammates of İlkay Gündogan, who spoke of an “incredible honour” to be able to “represent the German people with pride”, were wary of Scotland as the Germans missed out on their last three major tournament entries (defeats against Mexico at the 2018 World Cup, France at Euro 2021 and Japan at the 2022 World Cup).
Given their record (four-time world champion and three-time European champion) and the fact that they are playing at home, Germany is one of the favourites for the tournament, along with Kylian Mbappé’s France, runner-up in the world championship in December 2022, and Harry Kane’s England.
After this opening match, the first shock of the tournament is scheduled for Saturday early evening in Berlin between Spain, European champion in 2008 and 2012, and Croatia of the indestructible Luka Modric, vice-champion of the world in 2018 and again semi-finalist at the end of 2022 in Qatar. Two serious outsiders, just like the Italian title holder and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.
