Germany wins bid to host Euro 2024

Germany has won the right to stage the Euro 2024 football championships, overcoming a debate over racism involving one of its senior players and amid protests by fans about the cost of hosting one of the continent’s premier sports tournaments.

On Thursday, Uefa voted to hand the event to Germany over Turkey, the only other bidder for the event, during a meeting at the headquarters of European football’s governing body in Nyon, Switzerland.

The result came as a relief for German Football Association (DFB), which had long been considered a strong favourite to pick up the prize, until being shaken by controversies in the run-up to the vote.

Over the weekend, German club football teams stood in front of placards before matches supporting the bid, but fans in the stands of many stadiums launched protests to voice opposition and complain about the commercialisation of the game.

Last Friday, in Stuttgart, fans held up a giant banner reading: “United by money — corrupt in the heart of Europe”, referencing the German bid’s slogan “United by Football”.

Another banner read: “Good chance to buy another tournament,” referring to claims — which were denied — that German FA officials bribed Fifa officials during its successful bid to host the 2006 World Cup.

German FA officials have admitted there could be a “political impact” to a vote as the country faced Turkey.

Earlier this year, German national team players Mesut Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan, the sons of Turkish immigrants, faced heavy criticism after being photographed with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Amid the furore — and following Germany’s shock first round exit at this year’s World Cup — Ozil quit the national team citing “racism and disrespect” about his Turkish roots from senior members of DFB. The German FA has rejected Ozil’s arguments.

The next Euro tournament in 2020 will be held in cities across Europe, with the final being staged at London’s Wembley Stadium. But the 2016 tournament in France raised €1.93bn in revenues for Uefa, with almost all the money spent on organising the event and distributing money to member countries and football clubs.

The French ministry of sport has said that hosting costs, such as the renovation of stadiums and security measures, cost about €200m, but returned €1.22bn to the country in tourism and spending related to the tournament.

The DFB plans to use the country’s existing world-class stadiums and transport infrastructure to stage the event. Turkey has failed with three previous bids to host the tournament.