Germany, the host of the Euro Cup, between modernity and security

To successfully host the Euro Cup from June 14 to July 14, Germany relies on the heritage of the 2006 World Cup, with its modern and always full stadiums, but with the great concern of securityin a very tense geopolitical context.

The last time Germany organized a great football tournament was in 2006, with a very well organized World Cup led by Franz Beckenbauer and five weeks of festive atmosphere throughout the country.

For that championship, many stadiums were extensively renovated, including the Berlin Olympic Stadium, built for the 1936 Games and whose works lasted four years (2000 to 2004) to modernize a venue that hosted the final, in which Italy defeated France. in prisons.

Other stadiums were built completely, such as the Allianz Arena in the north of Munich, which has been Bayern’s home since the 2005-2006 season.

In six days’ time, the Bavarian stadium will be the center of the football world when the opening match between the host team and Scotland takes place there.

These stadiums were the great legacy left by the World Cup and almost two decades later, of the 10 venues that will host the 51 matches of the Euro Cup, nine of them were already venues for World Cup matches.

Only Düsseldorf joins this list, of course, with a stadium built between 2002 and 2004 and which is part of the most modern stadiums in Germany. The only venue that has undergone a major renovation was Stuttgart, with the renovation of the lower part of the main stand, completed at the beginning of 2024.

Half of the Eurocup stadiums belong to teams that currently play in the German second division, something that does not prevent them from filling up every weekend.

Total, 2.7 million viewers are expected in stadiums whose capacity has been reduced somewhat since UEFA does not authorize standing seats, which German football has been experiencing since the 2022-2023 season. Thus, the Dortmund stadium will go from the usual 81,365 seats to 62,000.

At the helm of the organization, the former captain of the 2014 world champions Philipp Lahm He has not had to worry much about infrastructure, but there is another issue that does give him a lot of headaches: “From the beginning, security is one of our great provisions,” he said in an interview with AFP in March.

Security, the item that worries Germany

Beyond the 2.7 visitors with tickets for the matches, Germany is preparing to receive 12 million people in the ‘fan zones’those celebration venues for fans located in each host city and that bring together thousands of fans to watch the games on giant screens.

Experts from each qualified country will help the German authorities, Europol and UEFA to monitor and coordinate security measures from a huge 500 m2 conference room, equipped with 129 computers and a gigantic 40 m2 screen in the Cooperation Centre. (IPCC) in Neuss (west).

Around the 10 stadiums that will host matches, between 800 and 1,300 security force agents will be deployed, there will be controls on the German borders during the tournament and joint patrols of French gendarmes and German federal police will monitor the Paris-Stuttgart and Paris- Frankfurt.

“Major sporting events are always potential targets for terrorist attacks”says Johannes Saal, a security expert at the University of Lucerne, describing the current geopolitical situation as “very tense” due to the war in Gaza and the ever-present jihadist threat.

“We have been talking in the abstract about a high threat for yearss, but there is no concrete indication of an attack,” Berlin police chief Barbara Slowik tried to put into perspective during a presentation of the security device for the tournament in mid-May. The threats “are taken seriously and verified with international partners,” he added.