2023-06-13 05:12:02
While host Germany is hoping for a summer fairy tale in their own country exactly one year before the next European Football Championship, the Austrian national team definitely wants to be there at the European Championship, which begins on June 14, 2024. For team boss Ralf Rangnick, taking part in the tournament in his home country would be particularly emotional, but the chances are intact after the two opening wins in Group F of the European Championship qualifiers.
The first two of eight games were successfully played by the ÖFB selection in the home doubles in Linz against Azerbaijan (4:1) and Estonia (2:1) in March. With Belgium on Saturday (8.45 p.m.) in Brussels and Sweden (20 June/8.45 p.m.) in Vienna, the two direct opponents are now waiting for a top two place for the EM ticket.
In the coming year, however, the Germans want to “organize a festival that will have an aha effect for the years to come,” said former world champion captain and tournament director Philipp Lahm of the dpa. Preparations are in full swing, everything is right on schedule. 18 years after the World Cup in Germany, the tournament is to become “a celebration of coming together”.
In addition, according to Lahm, the European Championship should be “the exact opposite” to the past World Cup tournaments in Russia and Qatar. In these countries, the sport was used “by the wrong people” for their respective purposes. “It was primarily about power and self-expression.” The tournament in Germany, on the other hand, should stand for values such as diversity, cosmopolitanism and tolerance.
They also want to organize a sustainable football tournament that could “possibly serve as a model for subsequent major events,” emphasized Lahm. The EM mascot will be presented on June 20th. On October 3rd, the day of German unity, ticket sales for the 51 games in the ten venues begin as a further milestone.
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