Status: 01.08.2022 4:55 p.m
The trophy was just a little missing the day after the European Championship final, which they narrowly lost to England after extra time: the German runners-up European champions were enthusiastically received by the fans at the Römer in Frankfurt am Main.
On Monday afternoon (01.08.2022) around 7,000 fans of the DFB team gathered on the square in front of the town hall – they wore jerseys of the German national team and waved black, red and gold flags. When coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, captain Alexandra Popp and the rest of the team stepped onto the balcony around 4.30 p.m., loud cheers erupted. “It’s really overwhelming. We didn’t expect so many people to be here,” said Lina Magull in the first who had provided the temporary equalizer in the final. “I have tears in my eyes. That is a very high appreciation for us and for what we have achieved.” Team colleague Svenja Huth added: “It just feels nice” – and was confirmed by the fans on the Römer, who loudly intoned the classic “Oh, how nice is that”.
Disappointment on the one hand, pride on the other
At 2:19 p.m., the plane with the vice European champions landed at Frankfurt Airport. Even before departure from London, pride mixed in with the disappointment of missing out on the European Championship triumph. After Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to the Wembley dressing room and a celebratory banquet, the players danced and celebrated in small groups until the early hours of the morning. “But we still need a few days to realize what we have achieved,” said captain Alexandra Popp, who had to pass injured in the final, in the first. National coach Voss-Tecklenburg added: “People were enthusiastic about how we played football. That makes us proud.”
“We saw the beginning of something really big”
At the reception in the town hall and the entry in the Golden Book of the City of Frankfurt, the great team performance during the European Championships was looked back on, but the future of women’s football in Germany was also looked ahead to: “This team has given football a lot in the past few weeks.” , said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. “This team has prospects. We saw the beginning of something big.”
The next big tournament is coming up next year: The World Championship will take place in Australia and New Zealand. “We hope that we’ll be successful again with this team,” defender Giulia Gwinn looked ahead a bit in the first. Three years ago at the World Cup in France, the two-time title holder Germany was eliminated in the quarter-finals.
Enthusiasm in Germany – record ratings
The DFB women thrilled millions of people at home with their six appearances at the tournament in England. The live broadcast of the European Championship final broke the eleven-year-old ratings record from the 2011 World Cup. An average of 17.897 million people watched the game against the “Lionesses”.
Source: sportschau.de