In our column “Green Space”, Oliver Fritsch, Christof Siemes, Stephan Reich, Anna Kemper and, as a substitute for the European Championship, Laura Sophia Jung, take turns writing about the world of football and the world of football. This article is part of ZEIT am Wochenende, issue 27/2024.
A few weeks ago, nobody knew André Schnura. That is actually only a slight exaggeration. He worked as a music teacher and played the saxophone at weddings. Today, the whole of Europe knows him. That is also only a slight exaggeration.
What the weather was for the 2006 summer fairytale, André Schnura and his black saxophone are for the 2024 European Championship. Wherever they appear, they create a great atmosphere, without any restrictions.
They did this for the first time on 14 June after the opening match against Scotland. In the Olympic Park, Schnura played in the midst of a horde of mostly German fans Freed from Desire by Gala. If he hadn’t been standing slightly higher on two loudspeakers he had brought with him, you wouldn’t have been able to tell him apart from the other fans with his retro Rudi Völler jersey, his speedy glasses and the cigarette behind his ear. A man of the people. Around him: the sweetest mosh pit in the world. People were singing, dancing, gently jostling and a little beer was spilled.
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This scene has been repeated at every Germany game since then. Schnura played in Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Dortmund. It seems as if he can turn any song into a saxophone piece: Whether Roller by Apache 207, January samba by Bellini, 99 balloons by Nena or Shut Up And Dance by Walk the Moon. In Frankfurt he even interpreted RADW by Haftbefehl, which the Offenbach rapper liked so much that he shared a video of it on his Instagram profile.
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If Schnura were a footballer, you would say he’s on a roll. He has a feel for what people want to hear. And above all, what they want to feel. Many musicians have tried to shape and simultaneously capture the mood of major events with their songs.
Sportfreunde Stiller is ’54, ’74, ’90, 2006 They wrote a hymn that described the longing for success with so much self-irony that it provided the appropriate soundtrack to the summer fairytale self-image of the friendly Germans: “We do not have the highest playing culture, we are not exactly delicate, but we have dreams and visions.”
Even the most famous football song, written for the European Championship in England in 1996, flirts with its own weakness. Three Lions It is about maintaining hope that football is finally coming home, despite 30 years of great pain (England’s last and only international title was the 1966 World Cup).
The 2024 European Championship is not a tournament for irony. And not one for patriotism in Germany either. Right-wing parties are winning elections and power all over Europe. There is still war in Ukraine. And in Germany, a party that is anti-European and in parts right-wing extremist will probably become the strongest force in the upcoming state elections.
Hard to imagine, Oliver Pochers Black and white still used as a goal anthem today. Not only because Oliver Pocher sings the song, but because of the completely blunt lyrics in their arrogant patriotism (“Favorites, that’s us / and black, red, gold, we stand by you”). From Bushido and Kay One, who said in 2010 that the German team like Torches in the wind not to mention that it would be worth it.
The 2024 European Championship is a tournament of self-assurance. It is intended to show that the idea of Europe is still alive. The desire for unity is more important than the desire to win.
This is evident from the fact that no single song has prevailed in the competition for the title of European Championship song. And that was despite the fact that there were certainly contenders. First of all, there is the goal anthem Major Tomwhich became their early success’s undoing: By now most people have heard the song to death. The national team itself has adopted the martial Success is not luck by Kontra K. Two Indian taxi drivers from Hamburg even wrote a European Championship song in Bollywood style.
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Nevertheless, the music that everyone can agree on is that of André Schnura. Perhaps because it is the most immediate, more live than any concert could be. You are immediately part of it, even if you only see a 30-second video snippet on your phone screen, the energy is transmitted. You want to shake your phone as the fans jump up and down. That is exactly the feeling of belonging, the feeling of coming together that we expected from the European Championships.
Because André Schnura has understood this, he doesn’t perform from a stage. His instrument sounds out from the crowd, and he doesn’t want to have security around him. That’s why he plays songs that everyone knows. As soon as the first notes are heard over the speakers, everyone sings along. The only surprise is the moment when Schnura joins in with the saxophone, the sax drop, so to speak. The tension that builds up beforehand is one that the audience knows will soon be released, and is therefore harmless. Like the goosebumps you get when watching a horror film.
Schnura’s wish is to bring people together with his music, to show that love is stronger than hate. “Love is the universal force that can heal everything,” he writes on his Instagram page. Of course, that’s an exaggeration. And not a small one. It’s naive in a way that’s just charming.
Just as it would be naive to believe that Schnura only takes love and a good feeling away from his performances. Even though he refuses to give interviews and is quoted in a press release as saying: “It’s not about me, it’s about the fans, the team, about love and about the community!”
André Schnura is a professional musician. A few weeks ago he says he lost his job as a music teacher. The European Championships have brought him many new fans. He has already released his first saxophone remixes on Spotify. He will be going on tour in the autumn. He wants to donate part of the proceeds to the Toni Kroos Foundation. He already does this for every saxophone he sells through his company Stalaxy, the press release states.
There will also be no stage on the tour, but rather an extension of the euphoric feeling of the European Championship. To believe that this is possible is perhaps the most naive belief of all. A summer cannot last forever, not even in fairy tales. It is over by the time of the final. But to make sure that this is particularly memorable – regardless of whether the German team takes part – fans of André Schnura have a plan. They want to start a petition for him to perform in the stadium for the final. They don’t really care which song, as long as he plays it again.
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