Julian Nagelsmann tears up during a scene in the RTL documentary

National coach Julian Nagelsmann revealed at the premiere of the DFB documentary about the home European Championship that a film scene still particularly affects him months later. And captain Joshua Kimmich, who came to the screening in a Munich cinema with his wife and children, revealed what was on the minds of the national soccer players when they saw the first images of the documentary as part of the last international matches in November 2024.

“I had the feeling that everyone was watching and hoping that nothing embarrassing would happen to them,” Kimmich said on Thursday evening. However, there is no embarrassment in the one and a half hour documentary “Our Team – The Home European Championship 2024”, which can be seen on RTL this Saturday at 8:15 p.m.

There are more like “a few laughs,” as Kimmich noted. He also made the audience smile when he joked during the discussion with Nagelsmann and team chef Anton Schmaus before the start of the film with the dramatic quarter-final knockout against eventual European champions Spain: “Unfortunately, I can already predict that, we are eliminated.”

Kimmich said it was nice to see the emotional images of the European Championship summer with unusual insights into the inner workings of the team, “but at the end of the day you also feel a bit disappointed.” The happy ending should follow at the 2026 World Cup. “After many very difficult years, a great energy has emerged. I hope that we can build on this so that we don’t get eliminated in the quarter-finals next time.”

Nagelsmann finds the documentary “successful” and “interesting”. And he is particularly captivated by one sequence. He had broadcast the final speech to team chef Schmaus in the dressing room before the 1:2 after extra time against Spain in Stuttgart. “This is the main scene in the film where I actually always start to get tears in my eyes again,” said Nagelsmann.

“The moments before the game, the final speech, are very important. And we had the idea that Schmausi would do well,” said Nagelsmann. Because the chef has an extraordinary relationship with the players. “It was a mix of funny and emotional. The speech was exceptionally good, probably better than many of my final speeches.”

In the film you can see how Schmaus in the dressing room warms up the players standing in a circle, especially with the emotionally delivered sentence: “Today we’re shaving the Spaniards – dry!” He “tried to put everything into it so that we could win the game,” said Schmaus at the film premiere.

When Nagelsmann asked him that he should give the final speech, he first asked the national coach whether he was serious. “And then I thought: Okay, hopefully I won’t say shit.” He prepared a speech but then discarded it. “Then I just tried to do freestyle.” It was very well received by the team, even if shaving the Spaniards didn’t work out.

Transparency note: The star is part of RTL Deutschland