Women's football hasn't seen anything like this before: around 700,000 fans are said to be there when the battle for the title between the 16 best national teams in Europe is in full swing on Wednesday.
The speed at which the tickets found a buyer in the advance sale blew all previous dimensions.
An unusually impressive stage is set.
Images and atmosphere that already promise the European Championship opening game between England and Austria at Old Trafford in Manchester can provide the necessary impetus for the almost four-week spectacle.
The German Football Association (DFB) also dreams of setting a record: the ninth European Championship title is the goal.
The selection put together by national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg feels ready for the big hit again after years in which many small setbacks destroyed the former supremacy.
Half a dozen competitors
What contribution the squad, which has been rejuvenated in many positions, can actually contribute to the success of the event at ten locations on the island will also depend on how the players pull themselves out of the affair in London on Friday (21 o'clock, in the FAZ live ticker for the women's football championship, on ZDF and on DAZN).
It has been a long time since German women have shown so much sympathy.
A win against the runner-up from 2017, Voss-Tecklenburg rightly speculates, can trigger a wave of enthusiasm that will carry your people through the preliminary round - and then on.
There is no doubt that it will be difficult to meet (your own) demands.
The power density in their profession has never been higher than it is now.
With England, Spain, France, Holland, Norway and Sweden, there are half a dozen competitors in addition to the DFB ensemble who have the potential to seize the throne.
Juvenile attitude
For Voss-Tecklenburg, the EM is a test.
More than ever, she is responsible for creating a working atmosphere that makes top performance possible from the favorable framework conditions she finds for her work: she has to stay relaxed and direct her staff less with a raised index finger, as she initially suggested her return from Switzerland three years ago - and so her eleven was not a decisive help.
The Germans will only be able to play for the crown if the team behind the team is ready for the title.
How far away the former leader was from the top, which he had maintained for years with Teutonic diligence, playful finesse and tactical skill, was shown in past major events.
Both the 2017 European Championship and the 2019 World Cup ended in the quarterfinals, and they even missed out on qualifying for the Olympics in Tokyo.
The fact that they are aware that their reputation has suffered, but are willing to work together to polish it up, forms the working basis with which the Germans set to work.
The team appeared united in the pre-season, seemed fit and appears flexible in order to be able to react to imponderables from the depths of the squad.
The prerequisites for success are one thing.
Determined to use it when the opportunity arises, the other.
Despite their juvenile attitude, the 2022 DFB group seems capable of this: this maturity test comes at exactly the right time for the team.