Sport 195 days before the start
In contrast to the team – the draw ceremony awakens anticipation for the European Championship
Status: 02.12.2023 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Lucky draw for Germany – these are the national team’s group opponents
The German national team was drawn into a feasible group. National coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team will face Scotland, Hungary and Switzerland in the preliminary round of the European Championships in their own country.
The almost hour-long show at the draw in Hamburg can certainly serve as a successful start to the home European Championships. In any case, the music and presenters get you in the right mood for the tournament. Even a briefly audible groan is of little concern.
Judging by the recent performances of the German national soccer team, the draw ceremony in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg turned out to be a spectacular hors d’œu vre that made you excited for the start of the home European Championship in 195 days: Germany’s preliminary round opponents Scotland and Hungary and Switzerland at least give hope that Julian Nagelsmann’s team – unlike at the two most recent World Cups – will not have to quit in frustration after just three games. And the almost hour-long show on Saturday evening also offered entertaining entertainment.
A draw like this is always a small nod to the wider world – and basically the first exclamation mark of the host nation with international impact. When Germany garnished the last tournament in this country in Munich in 2006 with the performance of Schuhplattler during the World Cup opening ceremony, quite a few observers thought that in Germany it was completely normal to spank oneself while dancing. So be careful when choosing music.
Official EM song presented
But here too, everything was great in the noble Hamburg port town: First, violinist David Garrett and tenor Jonas Kaufmann got the visitors in the mood for the ceremony, then the two eloquent moderators Esther Sedlaczek and Pedro Pinto opened the draw, and there is also a lot of musical activity at the continental showdown in 2024 went well.
Entertaining draw: World champion Gianluigi Buffon with the European Championship mascot Albärt
Source: dpa
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The official EM song presented for the first time, produced by Meduza, One Republic and Kim Petras, sounded far more exciting than Herbert Grönemeyer’s “Time for something to turn” on the occasion of the 2006 home World Cup. The song was so lame that it was in the Stadiums with German fans were quickly replaced by “54, 74, 90, 2006” by Sportfreunde Stiller – and in other arenas by the infernal “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes.
Praise from Buffon
And there is another improvement to be made: Unlike Goleo in 2006, the mascot Albärt wears trousers. Of course, he was allowed to bring the first ball with the German lottery ticket into the hall of the Elbphilharmonie and hand it over to “Gigi” Buffon, goalkeeper in the 2006 World Cup team of the Italians . Buffon had previously made a declaration of love for the European Championship host: “For me, Germany is the place where I felt the fun of football like nowhere else.”
National coach Julian Nagelsmann runs past the European Championship trophy
Source: dpa
In around half a year it is now important not only to be a good host, but also to be successful both sportily and economically. The first step seems to have been taken. In any case, even a small mishap couldn’t permanently torpedo the evening in Hamburg. Apparently a short, loud groaning sound was heard during some transmissions. Where did it come from? Still unclear. The English comedian Daniel Jarvis claimed to be the originator of the noise – but whether this is true has not yet been confirmed.
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And so what ultimately remained in memory was the final image that port employees had designed parallel to the draw from all group participants: containers stacked on top of each other with the country’s flags – that also fit perfectly into the signal sent from the Hanseatic city on Saturday evening.
