The fans’ anticipation of the German team around Jamal Musiala (r.) is great. It is still uncertain whether it can build on the hype of 2006.
Photo: imago/Sven Simon
For most Germans, the 2006 home World Cup is still remembered as a summer fairy tale. Will the 2024 European Football Championship be able to repeat that?
Markus Stenger: I’m cautious when it comes to the term fairy tale. I believe that there is a historical transfiguration at this point. At the same time, I would of course like us to create a similar atmosphere in the country. We have an incredible chance of experiencing an incredible number of encounters in the coming weeks. With the volunteers we see how many people from all walks of life want to get involved in this tournament. We can already feel that people are keen. But can we then say that the 2024 European Championship has changed the country? I would never presume to do that.
Did the 2006 World Cup change a Swiss person’s image of Germany?
Andreas Schär: In any case. Afterwards, Germany was perceived differently, more positively. In 2006, a carpet of welcoming culture was laid out. We didn’t know this kind of openness from you Germans. Then came the 2008 European Championships in Austria and Switzerland and we copied everything, really everything, that had gone well in Germany (laughs). Above all, the public viewing.
Interview
dpa/Weißbrod
Markus Stenger (48) was initially head of the game operations department at the German Football Association, led the German European Championship bid from 2017 and became managing director of Euro GmbH after the contract was awarded in 2019. After the European Championships, he will return to the DFB as director of amateur football.
The current tournament director Philipp Lahm wants to create a new feeling of unity in Germany and Europe. Isn’t that too much in the current situation?
Stenger: Of course that’s a noble goal, but we have to have higher standards than just creating a well-organized tournament. However, I doubt whether football can really heal everything that has gone wrong in this world.
Schär: We also have to see that the Corona period was not that long ago. And in 2006 there were no smartphones, no social media network – the Internet was only just getting off the ground back then. In this respect, effects are created in completely different worlds these days.
Many people have an uneasy feeling about the global political situation. An attack on a soccer tournament in the heart of Europe: According to your information, is this scenario threatening this European Championship?
Stenger: This situation is not exclusive to football. This applies not only to every major sporting event, but also to every city festival. Of course, you have to take this scenario into account, which is why there were corresponding exercises at every stadium. From the discussions with the authorities we get an abstract threat situation, everyone is on the alert, but there is nothing concrete so far.
Schär: I compare this with the situation before the 2016 European Championship in France. After the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015, the entire country increased security. Nothing happened during the tournament – but a few days later a truck drove into a crowd in Nice. You are not immune to these things.
If an assassin went to a fan festival, no one could actually stop him. Or are security checks planned before the fan festivals??
Schär: We call these things the soft targets. Ultimately, each individual organizer is responsible for their safety. Whether, for example, body searches are carried out on the Römerberg in Frankfurt am Main is up to the local tourism authority.
Stenger: But we have the feeling that these aspects are also treated professionally there.
Schär: I recently walked across the Zeil in Frankfurt on a Saturday, which was as full as a fan zone – but I didn’t see any police officers. However, you will see security guards in every fan zone. That does have a certain deterrent effect.
What trust do you have in Deutsche Bahn, which regularly strains a lot of nerves?
Stenger: She is aware that everyone will be watching very closely. There is an effort, for example, to use more trains after the games to bring people back to where they came from. As far as the teams are concerned, at the 2016 European Championship in France, 75 percent of the teams traveled by plane, only 25 percent by bus and train. For us the relationship is now reversed. And of course the railway is aware of the external impact if a team is suddenly stranded on the open track for three hours with the air conditioning failing. There would be a lot of pressure on the boiler.
Schär: It would be an incredible loss of image. In my subjective opinion, the train has been on time again since the strike ended. I’ve traveled a lot in the past six weeks and everything worked fine. You can also feel the desire for the European Championships among the staff.
Some completely new highways were built for the 2006 World Cup. Now important junctions are closed or huge construction sites. Was there a missed opportunity for acceleration?
Stenger: We were also in discussions with the federal Autobahn GmbH to advance the infrastructure. But in fact we have to say that no miracles happen for a European Football Championship. Traffic planning has significantly longer lead times.
Schär: There is still a lot of catching up to do in the German infrastructure. But we were at least promised that some construction sites like in Gelsenkirchen would be organized differently so that traffic can flow.
Not everyone can take public transport specifically to evening games because then they won’t be able to come back – and overnight stays in the match cities are absurdly expensive. How do you solve the problem?
Stenger: We want to be sustainable, but it is also clear that we cannot exclude all car traffic. After all, many will be driving to a stadium like this for the first time. They are then much more open to steering measures because they don’t know every loophole. There are already parking spaces, but they may be different than those used for Bundesliga games.
Schär: But it also depends on the nations involved: Many Scots and English people come in coaches, while Poles often sit four people in a car and will drive back that night because it’s cheaper than staying in a hotel.
The tickets were all gone quickly. Are you afraid of a black market?
Schär: The relevant portals that offer tickets for horrendous prices do not yet have any tickets at all. And of course we clearly warned people not to get tickets on these portals. Otherwise you run the risk of being turned away at the entrance.
Stenger: A black market can never be avoided. But so far it’s still small, and it’s classic short sales: The providers hope that somewhere they can get the tickets cheaper, which they are already offering on the Internet for 2,500 euros. But the cards haven’t even been played yet. So no one has a ticket on their cell phone yet that they could pass on. And when they are spent, the app has security mechanisms to prevent resale.
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