EURO 2024
Before the European Championship draw: German title optimism is in the basement
“There are no easy opponents anyway,” says national coach Julian Nagelsmann. photo
© Christian Charisius/dpa
Before the European Championship draw, confidence in the national team plummeted. Only a mini-minority believes the DFB team can win the title in 2024. And in the Elbphilharmonie there is a real threat.
The vast majority of Germans consider it unrealistic for national coaches Julian Nagelsmann celebrates the European Championship victory with the national soccer team in Berlin on July 14, 2024.
When the DFB team’s European Championship preliminary round opponents are drawn on Saturday in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, sporting confidence will be at rock bottom after the many disappointments of the recent past. Only two percent expect a European Championship triumph at the home tournament next summer. This is the result of a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov.
24 percent of those surveyed, on the other hand, expect massive tournament disappointment and elimination in the group phase – as was the case at the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments. 16 percent see the DFB team failing in the round of 16, as they did at the 2021 European Championship. 15 percent believe Nagelsmann and his team will reach the quarter-finals and eight percent at least believe they will take part in the semi-finals. Germany in the final – although without the following coronation – still give three percent as their assessment. 30 percent of those surveyed did not express an opinion.
“There are no easy opponents anyway”
In the host country, the DFB team is released from the role of favorites for the time being. Although DFB President Bernd Neuendorf recently declared participation in the final as a goal between the lost test games against Turkey (2:3) and Austria (0:2).
When it comes to the draw, everything is possible for Germany, even though they are in first place as the head of Group A: an easy group as well as a hammer draw. The most difficult conceivable variant would be Italy and the Netherlands from pots 4 and 3 and Denmark, Austria or Turkey from the second pot. However, a group with Albania, Slovenia and a team from playoff path C, in which Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan and Luxembourg will play a European Championship participant in March, would also be conceivable.
“The charm of a draw is that it is drawn by lot. So you don’t have your luck in your own hands, there are no easy opponents anyway,” Nagelsmann told the German Press Agency before the draw. The 36-year-old will come to Hamburg on Saturday to take part in the ceremony.