There are small differences between the discredited international sports federations.

When Celia Šašić, alongside tournament director Philipp Lahm as ambassador, the female face of the 2024 European Football Championship, and Frankfurt's Mayor Peter Feldmann each took a ball in their hands for the inauguration photo of the tram in the look of the tournament, which was also held in Frankfurt in two years, it was the model from the wrong manufacturer who is not the official outfitter.

If the world football association FIFA had led the regiment, the episode would probably have caused a small scandal.

The representative of the European federation UEFA was silently content that Šašić, with the instinct of a former goalscorer, hid the logo under her hand and recommended the same action to the mayor.

Daniel Meuren

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

  • Follow I follow

The little anecdote can be seen as a good sign for a host city like Frankfurt, which wants to present itself as one of ten host cities in two years' time.

Where FIFA claimed to lay down all the rules at the men's World Cup in 2006 or at the women's World Cup with the final in Frankfurt, the preparations for the upcoming European Championships in June and July 2024 seem to be much more harmonious.

"We've had very positive experiences so far," said Feldmann, who welcomed a seventy-person delegation to the stadium for an inspection visit on Tuesday and, in the absence of the ill tournament director Philipp Lahm, announced the "kick-off" for the tournament.

Frankfurt can look forward to the tournament and show

leave a lasting legacy

For Šašić, a goalscorer for FFC and the German national team until the end of her career in 2015, the city is an indispensable venue anyway.

"Frankfurt is an international city, I've always loved that," says the German-born daughter of a Cameroonian father and a French mother.

The entire EM should breathe this spirit and reconcile people with football, from which many had alienated themselves in the pandemic.

It is therefore fitting that Frankfurt, as the headquarters of Euro 2024 GmbH, is the "heart of the euro".

Along with Lahm as the face of the European Championship, she herself should contribute to a positive atmosphere and also bring in her know-how as a cultural scientist.

The tram, which is decorated with the EM slogan "United by Football" and the official logo, which the hobby tram driver Feldmann drove on the maiden trip to the Römer, has been advertising since Tuesday as a first harbinger of the tournament in the entire urban rail network.

It should also be a symbol for sustainable mobility concepts, with which the European Championship, according to Šašić, wants to set an example and also leave a lasting legacy in Frankfurt.

In June, Frankfurt has to present a host city concept, which should also clarify, for example, whether a large screen on the Main for public viewing, like in 2006, is an option.

Only after the qualification games and the group draw in December 2023 will it be clear whether the German team will also play in Frankfurt.