DFB President Bernd Neuendorf sees a successful hosting of the European Football Championship 2024 in Germany as an opportunity for a German Olympic bid.
It’s also about “showing towards the Olympics that we can do such major events,” said Neuendorf during a panel discussion on major sporting events in Berlin in the Max-Schmeling-Halle.
The home EM is a great opportunity, “not just for football and sport as a whole, it’s also an opportunity to represent the country as a cultural location, as a strong business location,” said Neuendorf. “We have the chance to present Germany as a country that is moving forward powerfully.”
Olympic bids previously failed
The German Football Association was awarded the European Championship in September 2018. “People are electrified, everyone is looking forward to it,” said Neuendorf. “There weren’t the debates that we have at the Olympic Games. It’s clear that people like having a tournament like this in the country.” Germany last hosted the EM in 1988. “The Wall was still there,” said Neuendorf. “Events like this don’t happen every five minutes. When they come, you have to use them.”
German applications for the Olympic and Paralympic Games had recently failed with Munich for 2022 (winter) and Hamburg for 2024 (summer) in the preparation of referendums. At the beginning of the year, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) started a strategy process for a new application for summer or winter games.
At the end of 2023, a DOSB general meeting is to decide whether, for which year, with which cities or regions and under what conditions Germany will apply. Candidates would be conceivable for the 2034 or 2038 Winter Games and for the 2036 or 2040 Summer Games.
