Sport European Football Championship 2024
Federal President Steinmeier visits the team – appointment for the final day
Status: 17:28 | Reading time: 4 minutes
“He can still do a little something, the uncle”
Thomas Müller is looking forward to the European Championship with great anticipation. “There is no alternative but to be over the moon,” said the Bayern star. When asked about his role in the team, he said: “It is not my job to entertain people.”
Visit by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during the preparations for the European Championship, beer and bratwurst announcement by Chancellor Olaf Scholz: Julian Nagelsmann and the German national team can count on the support of political celebrities. That’s a tradition.
It was 3:32 p.m. on Wednesday when the Federal President’s entourage rolled up to the “Spa & Golf Resort” in Weimar. Frank-Walter Steinmeier got out of a black limousine and was received by Bernd Neuendorf, the President of the German Football Association (DFB), and sports director Rudi Völler. The welcome was warm, and everyone hugged. Steinmeier had arrived 17 days before the start of the European Championships at home to say a few words to the German national football team.
“Major football tournaments always make hearts beat faster, mine too, especially in our own country,” said Steinmeier after meeting the DFB team, including captain Ilkay Gündogan and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. “My impression is that the ambition is huge. I, like so many Germans, am keeping my fingers crossed that the players’ dream of becoming European champions will come true.” Neuendorf stressed that they were “very grateful that the Federal President was with us.” They had agreed to meet in Berlin on July 14 – that is when the European Championship final will take place in the Olympic Stadium.
High-ranking visitor: Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (l.) stands with Rudi Völler (r.) and Bernd Neuendorf
Those: dpa/Federico Gambarini
The DFB team will be preparing for the European Championships on home soil in Thuringia until Friday. Then they will move to the tournament headquarters in Herzogenaurach. The opening match of the European Championships will take place on June 14 in Munich against Scotland.
Angela Merkel in particular maintained good contact
Visits by high-ranking German politicians are a tradition for the German team. Angela Merkel, Chancellor from 2005 to 2021, in particular maintained a good relationship with the German elite team. She had a particularly good relationship with Oliver Bierhoff, former director of the DFB, and Joachim Löw, national coach from 2006 to 2021. They met regularly for dinner. “The Chancellor always serves me cordon bleu with French fries or fried potatoes,” Löw once reported after a meeting.
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In 2010, when the German team was preparing for the World Cup in Eppan/South Tyrol, Merkel had to cancel a visit to the training camp at short notice. Horst Köhler, then Federal President, had resigned. There are more important things than football. Merkel then visited the World Cup tournament, flying in for the quarter-final against Argentina. She saw the exhilarating 4-0 win live on site in Cape Town. After the game, she went to the dressing room, gave a short speech and flew back home.
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Just a few months later, when the DFB team met Turkey in Berlin, she visited the team again. After the match, which Germany won 3-0, she went into the dressing room with the then Federal President Christian Wulff, his daughter, a photographer and the former government spokesman Steffen Seibert. Afterwards, a photo went around the world showing Merkel with Mesut Özil. The then Chancellor in a blazer, Özil in tracksuit bottoms and shirtless.
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Angela Merkel also visited the national team in 2012, when the European Championship took place in Poland and Ukraine. She stopped by the camp in Sopot, Poland. In 2014, when Germany won the World Cup in Brazil, Merkel was there live at the final in Rio de Janeiro.
Chancellor Scholz: Fans should support German team at European Championships
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also looking forward to the upcoming European Championships and is hoping for a successful home tournament for the German team. “I hope there will be great enthusiasm in Germany, but also in the world, for this European Championship. And of course I hope that our team is carried by this enthusiasm and has many successes so that it goes all the way to the end,” said the SPD politician on “Spielmacher – the European Championship podcast from 360Media with Sebastian Hellmann.”
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“I’ve also resolved to watch as many games as possible. I, for one, am full of admiration for what the boys can do and am happy to be able to watch it – with bratwurst and beer in the garden, by the way,” said Scholz. “It would be completely absurd to constantly feel like Chancellor. Life has many beautiful aspects, and they are not connected to the office at all. You need these moments and this time, and I definitely need them too.”
He informs himself about the games, but is a fan and spectator and does not feel like a “top expert,” said Scholz. “The best thing to do is to go in there as a team and concentrate on the game – and not think at all about what everyone else thinks,” said the 65-year-old. “That is probably the most important advice: ‘It’s up to you now. You are the team, don’t look at others, don’t think about what others think.'”
