For Germany, England is more than a football rival: We want to be like you

What a night of football in Brighton! England beat Spain 2-1 after extra time in a thrilling match I could have watched for hours. And what a party in the stadium! It’s loud at women’s football matches, the atmosphere is like a mixture of school trip and youth disco.

Five-year-old girls, three Lionesses on their shirts, sitting on their father’s shoulders, waving the St George’s cross flag. A bell-bright children’s choir sang “Football’s coming home”, grandfathers also joined in with Wonderwall. The last time I had been allowed to feel so English was four years ago when I visited my relatives and watched the Royal wedding on the South Pier in Blackpool, throwing a coin into the slot machine.

As a German reporter, I was in England up to and including the quarter-finals to cover the Euros. I have been watching football for more than four decades. I remember many battles against Italy, the Netherlands or Argentina. But we Germans have a favourite opponent and that is England.

So London is experiencing the perfect final on Sunday. Is it my imagination or do I hear a slight despair in English commentaries that the opponent is, of all things, Germany, the four-time men’s world champions and eight times the women’s European champions – who (almost) always win in the end?

For me and most people my age, England is more than a rival. We’ve won many times on the football pitch and it’s quite possible that it will happen again this time. But actually we want to be like the English. England is a place of longing for my generation, who grew up with music from London, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle and, perhaps, became a bit cosmopolitan.

Pop-culturally, England is in a league of its own – you don’t have to go to the penalty