The glass looks “half empty” or “half full”, it’s a matter of perspective. A new “summer fairy tale” was waiting for Germany from the European Football Championship, which ends on Sunday. Neither more nor less the organizers wanted to see a “repeat” of the 2006 World Cup which took place on German grounds in a relaxed atmosphere, with glorious sunshine, with Germany finishing third and winning sympathy around the world.

Has the goal been achieved? Competitively obviously not, as at EURO 2024 Nacional may have shown their best face in recent years, but they were eliminated in the details by Spain in the quarter-finals. In the non-competitive part the report is positive, but the times are different compared to 2006, Dagrun Hinze, playwright and art critic, points out to Deutsche Welle.

“It’s a very German quality to constantly dig into the past, we’re not very receptive to change,” says Dagrun Hinze. “But the last thing we need now is the patriotic ecstasy and self-referentiality of 2006. And this demand from ourselves to be the first and the best everywhere is unnecessary, it is good to acquire a more realistic perception. What is important today is to regain a better social cohesion”.

Social tension, political polarization

In 2006, when Germany was living its “summer fairy tale”, there was no pandemic, no refugee crisis, no war in Ukraine, and no rise of the Far Right within its borders. This year’s European Football Championship took place in a different country, with conditions of social tension, with polarization sharpening in the political scene, with large groups of the population seemingly unable to reconcile with each other.

With these data, Jürgen Mittag, political scientist and professor at the Cologne Gymnastic Academy, considers the report to be positive. “The atmosphere in Germany is definitely better than before the event,” he points out. “For most, the European Championship was a great celebration. As for the fears that existed regarding security issues, they were ultimately not verified.”

Another football, another politics?

Can football serve as a model for politics?This debate is not only about Germany. A sensation was caused by the recent statements of the French Kylian Mbappe, who addressed his compatriots from the German stadiums, inviting them to go to the polls for the second round of the parliamentary elections, on July 7. The public appeal infuriated Marine Le Pen, but may have contributed somewhat to the increased turnout.

Jürgen Mittag believes that there is a growing trend of politicization in football. “Mbappe’s statements about the French elections, the Serbs who were punished for Kosovo flags that appeared in the stands, the whole debate about the Gray Wolves salute by Turko Demiral – all this shows that politicization in football is intensifying and that specific symbols they appear very targeted in the stadiums” emphasizes the German political scientist.

The political context of football certainly includes the “complaints” of the far-right party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD) about the new pink and purple jersey of the German national team, which according to the AfD is not “manly” enough and moreover is a manifestation of “allegedly multi-multicultural propaganda”. And yet, the pink and purple shirt has already “broken the box office” recording more sales than any other German national team kit in the past!

Germany, a “not so perfect” country

In general, the response from the German fans was excellent (if we exclude the boos towards Spain’s Mark Koukoureya). Stadiums were super-full, huge crowds watched the games in public screenings across Germany, and no serious incidents occurred. Certainly the fans “experienced” the event more intensely in relation to the isolation that prevailed in the World Cup in Qatar.

But this means that they also came into contact with everyday life in Germany, to experience for themselves organizational imperfections, delays of the German Railways and other negative phenomena, which probably do not correspond to the older stereotypes of German perfection. As the author Dagrun Hinze says, “from what they saw on the railways, the hotel occupancy and the event itself, the fans realized that even in Germany everything probably doesn’t work perfectly. It is something that is not hidden anymore. But I believe that maybe this makes the Germans a little more humane, maybe even strengthens some sympathies for this country…”

Edited by: Yiannis Papadimitriou