Leipzig – Former national player Thomas Hitzlsperger also sees the upcoming European Championship as an opportunity to distract from crises. “A month where we can enjoy football, a little distraction from everyday life. But I would never burden this team with the fact that they have to change and improve society in the long term,” said the 41-year-old at the Leipzig Book Fair.
Rather, it is the players’ job to play good and inspiring football so that the fans have a good time. The European Championship games will take place from June 14th to July 14th in ten German cities.
“It would be a great gain to get away from the negative reports and hatred for a month,” said the 2008 European vice-champion. In contrast to the 2006 World Cup, social media and therefore also anonymous hatred on the Internet played a greater role Role. “Today everyone can let out their hatred – anonymously and we see it. And that is hurtful,” said Hitzlsperger.
Hitzlsperger played a total of 52 times for the German national team. In 2006 he was third in the World Championships. Most recently, he was CEO of VfB Stuttgart until the end of March 2022.