Euro 2024 fever took hold of the streets of Munich at midday on Friday, filled with many Scottish supporters, a few hours before the opening match between Germany and Scotland.
In a very good-natured atmosphere and under a cloudy sky, the imposing Tartan Army, nickname of Scotland’s supporters (between 100 and 200,000 expected in Germany throughout the competition), took possession of Marienplatz in the center of Munich, at the foot of the City Hall, with kilts and bagpipes coming out.
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, recognizing that such a competition is “always” a platform for social and political themes.
“Europe is a great country”
“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 his first notebook.
“The more colorful it is, the better it will be. That means that alongside black-red-gold (the German colors), I will also be happy about other colors and flags of the teams in the tournament,” said the Chancellor German Olaf Scholz 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.
A more classic edition
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.
Privilege of the host country, the Mannschaft of Julian Nagelsmann opens 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 had finished third in a World Cup marked by incredible fervor.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / afp
