Germany eyes huge party as it hosts Euro 2024 amid global turmoil

MUNICH: Germany is gearing up to host the Euro 2024 football championship under high security as global threats cast a shadow, but on the field, the home team will be looking to prove they are finally back in form.

Six weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics, Germany will be the centre of the European football world's attention when the hosts face Scotland in the curtain-raiser in Munich on Jun 14.

While 2022 World Cup finalists France are favourites alongside England, Germany are enjoying new-found belief after wins against the French and the Netherlands in March.

The team's young coach, 36-year-old Julian Nagelsmann, was to have left the international set-up after the tournament but in a sign of his confidence in the team he is moulding, he has signed on until the 2026 World Cup finals despite reported interest from former club Bayern Munich.

It augurs well too that Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen will be in the Europa League final against Atalanta on May 22, while Borussia Dortmund will face Real Madrid in the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium in London on Jun 1.

On Thursday (May 16), both Germany and France will announce their 26-man Euro 2024 squads, with England doing so the following Thursday.

As the lead of the tournament organising committee, former Germany defender Philipp Lahm said he was looking forward to a "big festival together" but admitted the tournament would be better if Germany performed well.

"It always helps when the home team is in the tournament for a long time," the 2014 World Cup-winning captain told AFP in a recent interview.

Euro 2024 takes place three years after the previous tournament, which was postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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