National team
The majority does not believe in a summer fairy tale 2.0 at the European Championships
There is still little anticipation for a summer fairytale at the 2024 European Championships. photo
© Marcel Mettelsiefen/dpa
Summer fairy tale 2.0? Many Germans believe that there is still a long way to go. Can the football festival of the 2006 World Cup even be repeated? It’s not just about sports.
Only a small proportion of Germans believe in a repeat of the football summer fairy tale of 2006 at home.European Championships next summer.
In a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency, five percent of those surveyed said “yes, definitely” they expected a similar high spirit. Twelve percent could partially imagine this. The groups for the 2024 European Championship will be drawn today in Hamburg.
A total of 65 percent of those surveyed said that they did not or definitely did not expect another summer fairy tale like the home World Cup almost 18 years ago. 17 percent did not provide any information. The term was once coined by the peaceful atmosphere of tens of thousands of fans from abroad, the long-lasting good weather and the sporting success of the DFB team, which reached third place in 2006.
Deep sporting crisis
The current national team of national coach Julian Nagelsmann has been in a deep sporting crisis for years. At the last two World Cups with Nagelsmann’s predecessors Joachim Löw (2018) and Hansi Flick (2022), it was over after the preliminary round, and at the 2021 European Championship, the DFB selection with Löw only barely reached the round of 16, in which England (0: 2) was too strong.
“The truth will come in the summer,” said DFB sports director Rudi Völler during a sponsorship meeting in Hamburg. The force of public opinion must be endured until then, said the former DFB team boss.
Socio-political significance of the EM
The home European Championship will kick off under the motto “United by Football”. Tournament director Philipp Lahm, who scored the first German tournament goal against Costa Rica in 2006, has recently repeatedly emphasized the socio-political importance of the European Championship.
He believes “that a tournament like this can help people come together again, talk to each other and celebrate,” said the 2014 world champion in Deutschlandfunk’s “Players – The Sports Podcast”. “And that we defend what we have: freedom, peaceful coexistence, democracy.”