TV review of the 2024 European Championship: “Rauschende Ballnacht” on ZDF

TV review

European Championship 2024
Completely blown away: This is what the European Championship evening in front of the TV was like

Trööööööööööööt! Exactly 14 years ago, a trumpet called a vuvuzela haunted the football coverage of the World Cup in South Africa – and the ears all over the world. The first day of the 2024 European Championship was also likely to trigger a good tinnitus. The Scots had come to Munich, and there was talk of 100,000 fans. The biggest fear on the Isar: not that your eardrums would burst from all the bagpipes, but that there might not be enough beer. You could see how much the Scots had already drunk by switching from the ZDF sports studio directly to the scene of the action. You can see: Amelie Stiefvatter surrounded by fans with a few per mille in her system, a brave performance by the ZDF reporter. Take that, Paul Ronzheimer! Or as the Scotsman stammered into her microphone: “Very good, very, very, very, very good, Germany!”

First day of the European Football Championship, so the mood is great. How quickly something like this can change can be experienced in the Netflix documentary “The Euro Final: Attack on Wembley”. The 2021 final in London was a state of emergency in terms of security, also due to the pressure from tens of thousands of football fans who tried to storm the stadium at the end. What set the tone in the reporting around the opening match of the Scots against As far as Germany was concerned, optimism reigned. Nothing will happen, the kilt wearers were all drunk, but also very peaceful, very, very, very, very peaceful.

The socks of ZDF presenter Katrin Müller-Hohenstein

The ZDF went on air an hour and a half before kick-off. Katrin Müller-Hohenstein led the program in the studio, with Laura Freigang from Eintracht Frankfurt standing by her, no, sitting by her, an extremely solid combination of analysis and mood. The studio itself was a kind of hall with a live audience, with a metal sofa of simple elegance in the center, a pleasant contrast to the otherwise rather clean studio look of recent years, “Wetten, dass…?” meets factory floor. It was impressive, as were Müller-Hohenstein’s socks with a Bart Simpson motif, which really caught the eye so blatantly that the newspaper with the four letters used the same headline shortly afterwards.

The outfit of the trio on the sidelines was less spectacular, but more functional and senior-like. Christoph Kramer in a subtly baggy knitted sweater, Per Mertesacker and Jochen Breyer in a very simple, Mao-look and mod look, the understatement of the expertise department. The warm-up before kick-off was as relaxed as ever, when Mertesacker told us that he was “scared” shortly before kick-off of the first game at the 2006 World Cup and that Lehmann and Kahn had “fought” each other. Christoph Kramer’s mood barometer was “totally positive”. The duo’s biggest wish for the German team: “a perfect start”.

Euro 2024: Germany beats Scotland 5-1

The team managed to do so in a way that was more captivating than they could have imagined in their wildest dreams. If the Scots in the stands had worn kilts under their kilts, they would have been blown off their pants. They were already 3-0 up at half-time, the result that “Prophet Per” had only predicted for the final whistle. The final score was 5-1, which sobered the Scots and their fans in a flash, in contrast to the German side, of course. Jochen Breyer spoke of a “magnificent night of ball”. National coach Nagelsmann appeared appropriately relaxed in an interview after the final whistle, even if he didn’t want to quote the old Kahn saying, “because of the children in front of the TV”. It was also clear what was meant: his team had balls.

The job of commentator Oliver Schmidt was also solid, leading the game without any faults. His spontaneous reaction when the Scots scored was sympathetic: “You’re happy for them.” He was right, even if Antonio Rüdiger may have seen it differently. “That’s the final chord,” said Schmidt when the game was finally over, and it was unmistakably in a major key. It can continue like this. And if we then stop trying to force ourselves to create a new summer fairytale, then maybe there could even be one. Perhaps then the – Jochen Breyer’s phrase of the evening – “rearview mirror euphoria” will break out again in Germany. And there is still one exciting question: what socks will Katrin Müller-Hohenstein wear next time?