Pack cuckolds. In the black, red and gold crowd, you can cheer, cheer and despair in packed seats: the public viewing, sometimes with tens of thousands of spectators, was a huge hype during the 2006 home World Cup, the “summer fairy tale”. What will it be like at the 2024 European Championship? At least legally, the way is clear: On Friday in Berlin, the Federal Council approved a federal government regulation that makes outdoor public viewing events possible even into the night. But four weeks before the start of the European Championship, it is becoming apparent that a number of marketplaces are likely to remain empty this time.
Things should be going well again in the capital: artificial turf was laid and a huge football goal was built for the large fan mile at the Brandenburg Gate. TV stations will repeatedly report on the public viewing there. This year there was also a second fan mile on the lawn in front of the Reichstag. There will also be a large entertainment program with open-air cinema and concerts there, even on days without football or without German participation. Overall, the organizers are hoping for 50,000 to 100,000 people for both areas on some days. In addition, the European Championships will of course be broadcast in beer gardens and pubs, some beaches and also in a climbing garden.
Here the big cities are very reserved when it comes to official public viewing. Only Stuttgart, host of five European Championship games, offers an extensive program. The public viewing on the central palace square has a capacity of around 30,000 people. Stuttgart already hosted several games at the 2006 World Cup – up to 50,000 people regularly watched the broadcasts on Schlossplatz. However, there is no report in the other municipalities in the southwest: Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Konstanz, Ulm, Mannheim – none of them want to organize a municipal public viewing.
Munich is planning a fan zone in the Olympic Park for 30,000 people for the European Football Championship. They can then watch the games on a 120 square meter screen in the Olympic Lake. During the 2006 World Cup, the big public viewing took place in the Olympic Stadium. “Overall, we are expecting a similar number of people to watch the games,” said a city spokesman. Due to renovation work, no public viewing is planned in the stadium.
“The city of Nuremberg will not be holding any public viewing for the 2024 European Championship – unlike in 2006, when Nuremberg was the host city for the World Cup,” says the city. However, an event organized by a private organizer is planned at the airport. In Augsburg, where up to 5,000 people watched the games on the town hall square in 2006, the city says there will be no large public viewings.
No public viewing in Potsdam, for example, but a larger one in Frankfurt (Oder): the city is expecting up to 8,000 people on Brunnenplatz for the semi-finals and final. This is embedded in the city festival; both events are to be celebrated together in German-Polish friendship.
This is where public viewing fans first take a look. The final will then be broadcast on a big screen. With a view of the shipyard harbor, the game will be shown on three screens on the lake stage on the waterfront. In addition, according to the Bremen economic department, no public viewings are planned. The Senate would welcome this in principle, but the city does not want to act as an organizer itself. So far there have been no applications for a public viewing.
In the Hanseatic city, the fan festival starts on June 14th on the Heiligengeistfeld. All 51 games are shown live on multiple screens. In addition, on 15 match days the area will be open for the large public viewing, where everyone can celebrate together. All games of the German national team, the five games in Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion and all games in the final round are broadcast on a 100 square meter screen.
A 1.4 kilometer long fan zone with a floating screen will be built on the banks of the Main in Frankfurt; the zone will offer space for 30,000 people.
From mid-June onwards, many fans are likely to be cheering for the German team on the “football beach” in Heringsdorf. All German games, other selected games as well as the round of 16, quarter and semi-finals and the final are shown on the beach at the pier. Efforts are also being made to show the Polish national team’s games, it was said.
At the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, the ZDF football beach at the Heringsdorf pier on Usedom was the linchpin of the live reporting. At that time, Katrin Müller-Hohenstein and Oliver Kahn presented here for ZDF and broadcast to the venues from Heringsdorf.
No major public viewings are planned here yet. In Oldenburg it is said: “The city itself is not planning a public viewing, but there are discussions with an external organizer.”
There are special fan zones and at least one official public viewing area at the four venues in North Rhine-Westphalia. All games that take place in the respective city are shown here, as well as all games of the German national team. Depending on the location, additional transmissions are also possible.
In Dortmund there will be a fan zone at Friedensplatz with the broadcast of all European Championship games as well as a public viewing in Westfalenpark with the broadcast of all German games as well as all games from the Dortmund stadium. Düsseldorf is planning a public viewing on the banks of the Rhine for around 7,800 fans, with broadcast all German games as well as all games from the Düsseldorf Arena.
In Cologne, a public viewing is planned at the Tanzbrunnen for the games of the German team and all games in Cologne for up to 12,500 people. At the 2006 World Cup, Cologne ultimately had a capacity of over 65,000.
Gelsenkirchen is planning a fan zone and a public viewing in the amphitheater for 6,000 spectators each. Duisburg, Essen, Wuppertal, Bielefeld, Bochum, Bonn and Münster are not planning any centrally organized public viewings.
The only European Championship venue in Saxony is Leipzig, and only there will there be a large fan zone. All games will be broadcast on two screens, so up to 15,000 people can join in the excitement in front of the Opera House and the Gewandhaus. The zone is open on all 31 days of the tournament and fans can expect a supporting program with a Ferris wheel and music. The band LaBrassBanda will perform on June 29th, and pop singer Dieter Thomas Kuhn will perform on the final day. The cities of Dresden and Chemnitz are not planning any major public viewings.
Here too, only a few cities will offer their own public viewings. Most cities and municipalities rely on private initiatives. “In the past, the diverse public viewing offerings provided by private third parties have proven very effective,” says the city of Halle, for example.
According to its own statement, the Ministry of the Interior does not yet have any conclusive information about the number, location and size of the events in the country: “Experience shows that these also depend on the course of the tournament.”
Football fans have to do without seas of black, red and gold flags and mass watching of the European Championship, at least in larger Thuringian cities. The cities of Erfurt, Jena, Gera and Weimar are not planning to set up fan miles or big screens. Thousands of people gathered in central squares in Thuringian cities for the finals of the 2006 World Cup. In Erfurt, for example, there was a large screen on the cathedral square. Now a city spokeswoman says: “The euphoria was different back then.”
