If only the Germans had a word for “zeitgeist”. There’s a football tournament starting here on Friday, not that you would necessarily know it. Indeed, from a cursory trawl of Thursday’s media what was most striking of all was the absence of Euros-buzz, the suspicion that there are bigger priorities out there. “CANCER,” screamed the front page of Bild, just in case you were thinking of getting too excited. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is missing the opening game to attend the G7 in Italy. The sports bulletins were dominated by the sudden resignation of the Borussia Dortmund coach, Edin Terzic. On the Kicker website, the first Euro 2024 news appeared some way below a story about RB Leipzig’s summer transfer business.
None of which should necessarily be mistaken for pure apathy. Rather, there is a more complex melange of emotions at work here. Euro 2024 is still very much present, as long as you know where to look: the big town squares where overseas fans have begun to congregate, the television ad breaks where Joshua Kimmich is shaving his chin baby-smooth with a next-generation razor. Tickets for Germany’s open training session in Jena sold out in 10 minutes.
