Desperately awaited: The 2024 European Football Championship in Munich

For Germany a reason to rejoice – in 2024, the European Football Championship will once again take place in Bavarian Munich, home of the soccer club FC. Bayern Munich will take place. In fact, the city of Munich has been really lucky here, being allowed to host a major tournament for the second time in a row. Maybe the lucky Munich residents should just visit an online casino during such a lucky streak, Fortuna seems to be in the south Germans’ favor!

Never before – Munich active twice as host

Never before in the history of soccer has a city been allowed to host two major European tournaments in a row. But now luck has struck the people of Munich. Not only did they host EURO 2020, but they will also be able to welcome the players again at EURO 2024.

But something else is new! This time, the games will not be played from country to country, as in 2021, but this time the EURO 2024 will take place exclusively in Germany. And for the first time, there has never been an all-German European Championship before. Other venues include Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Leipzig, Cologne, Berlin, Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund and Düsseldorf.

The logo of the EM already known

The city of Munich has already presented the logo for the 2024 European Championship. Above all, it is colorful and gaudy and whets the appetite for more. On the one hand, you can see Munich’s Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) and, on the other, the Henri Delaunay Cup, which is surrounded by 24 bright colors. 24, because that’s how many finalists there will be at EURO 2024.

Munich has not yet published any further plans, however; it is being modest and would first like to hold talks with all those involved. However, it is well known that Munich is a quality host. Not only do they expect international guests at the Munich Oktoberfest once a year, but they were also chosen to host the European Championships in August 2022. One year after the EURO 2024, the Champions League final will also take place in the Allianz Arena.

Financially, however, the Bavarians now have a lot to cope with. The cost of staging the Championships is expected to be around 100 million euros. The city coffers will account for about a third of this. How high the budget for hosting the EURO 2024 will has not yet been communicated. This requires further background information, such as the number of games that will actually be played in Munich.

What does the European Championship in Germany mean for fans?

Germany looks back with pride on the summer fairy tale of 2006, when the World Cup was held in its own country. German fans were beside themselves, dancing in the streets and almost leading their team to victory. It wasn’t quite enough in the end, but all the German newspapers affectionately called the team led by Jürgen Klinsmann and Joachim Löw the winners of hearts.

And this time? Can the German national team even hope to win the title after being eliminated in the round of 16 at the last European Championship? After all, Joachim Löw is no longer active as a coach, but has handed over his team to former co-coach Hansi Flick. It remains exciting and for the German fans it would be desirable that their team has rehabilitated itself by the time of the European Championship in their own country and at least some exciting rounds of matches are possible.

The qualifying groups will be drawn in 2022

The teams and fans will have to wait until October 9, 2022, when preparations for the 2024 European Championship finally get underway. That’s when the draw for the qualifying groups will take place and the entertainment will begin, setting the course for many a team. At EURO 2021, it was above all the group of death consisting of Portugal, Germany, Hungary and France that put the fear of God into their opponents. In the end, none of the teams made it to the title, and the tournament’s most feared teams were eliminated in the round of 16.

There are 54 teams in the draw, but only 24 are allowed to go to the European Championship. The qualifying matches beforehand determine who can buy a ticket to Germany. The European Championship will now be held for the 17th time, with the date of the tournament between June 14, 2024 and July 14, 2024.

The final draw is scheduled for December 2023. It is to take place in Hamburg, in the Elbphilharmonie. So until then, all teams have plenty of time to prepare for one of the most exciting European soccer tournaments. In any case, tournament director Philipp Lahm is already in an anticipatory mood, and the soccer fans can hardly wait to see when it finally gets underway.

Before the European Championship comes the World Cup

Before the European Football Championship even gets underway, some of the participants have another major tournament to play. In December 2022, the Men’s World Cup will be held in Qatar. For the first time in history, it will be played in the winter months, because Qatar has an average temperature of 50 degrees in the summer, so playing relaxed soccer would be unthinkable.

A novelty for the Europeans. For the first time, they will be able to watch the players chase the trophy under a scorching sun while enjoying mulled wine and Christmas cookies. The anxious question that many fans are asking themselves is, what personnel changes will there be between the World Cup and the European Championship? After all, it is almost a tradition that some players end their careers after successful tournaments or even after defeats.

Anticipation is known to be the best joy

There’s no question that it’s still clearly too long before the next European Championship kicks off. But as we all know, anticipation is the best joy. For the losers of the last European Championship, the long time until the next event actually has its advantages. A prime example is the German team, which was conspicuous for its lack of team spirit and uncoordinated actions at the last tournament. Compared to the German summer fairy tale in 2006, the squad has actually changed quite a bit.

Except for veteran stars like Mats Hummels, Thomas Müller and Mario Götze, the team was on average very young and hardly rehearsed with one another. The strong French and Team Portugal also had amazing difficulties! For all these early dropouts of the last EURO, the waiting period until the next time is the chance to once again intensively hone the team spirit. And when the ball finally rolls, the fans can sit back and tune in to the next LAOLA wave.

Benjamin Blair

“Prone to fits of apathy. Introvert. Award-winning internet evangelist. Extreme beer expert.”