According to tournament director Philipp Lahm, the European Football Championship in Germany should set an example for sustainable travel for teams and fans.
“We are also currently working on giving spectators 36 or 48 hours of free train and bus travel with their game tickets, most destinations should be accessible by public transport,” said the chief organizer of the 2024 European Championship in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. “.
For the participating teams, the governing body UEFA has adjusted the schedule to keep travel distances short. The teams should play their preliminary round matches in one or at most two regions. “For the first time, the tournament regulations say that the teams have to base camp in this region – so you can’t play in Munich and live on Sylt,” explained Lahm.
World Cup in Qatar not a role model for Germany
This should also be a model for more sustainability in future tournaments. “We want to hit a few pegs there. In the next tournaments, you should be able to orientate yourself on what the Germans did at the EM 2024,” said the former soccer world champion.
The World Cup in Qatar cannot be a role model for Germany. According to Lahm, the organizers of the tournament have to ask themselves questions like: “How do you deal with the garbage in the stadium? How far away is the disposal, can we do it differently?”
However, Lahm emphasized that never again holding a football tournament could not be a solution in view of the climate. “We know that we won’t change the world in four weeks, but we want to send a strong signal,” assured the 39-year-old.
