By Andrew Warshaw in Munich
September 7 – Philipp Lahm will always be remembered for captaining Germany to World Cup glory four years ago – as well, of course, for being one of the finest players of his generation. But if his country wins the right to stage Euro 2024 when it goes head-to-head with Turkey later this month, Lahm will consider it just as great an achievement as the multitude of trophies picked up during an illustrious career for club and country.
The 34-year-old retired last year after a career that saw him win eight Bundesliga titles and a Champions League with Bayern Munich as well as that 2014 World Cup crown.
Having hung up his boots after 113 international appearances in a decade-long career, Lahm has turned his attention to taking on a vital ambassadorial role in Germany’s bid committee – and appears to be making a good job of the transition.
At a star-studded dinner on the eve of Germany’s prestige Nations League opener against France, Lahm didn’t just sit and indulge in idle gossip. He made a point of working the room, going round each table for an informal chat especially those occupied by the media. He is clearly learning fast about what moving from the playing field to the world of diplomacy entails.
The same morning, the energetic Lahm gave up a couple of hours of his time to conduct a series of media briefings with individual reporters invited to Munich to learn more about Germany’s 2024 campaign.
He knows sole rivals Turkey are bidding for the fourth time and how that might translate into a sympathy vote among the majority of the 17 voting members of UEFA’s executive committee.
But as charm offensives go, Germany could not have chosen a more approachable or engaging figure.
“We are a country which has already proved we know how to put on special events,” Lahm told Insideworldfootball, using a translator just to make sure he got his message across even though he speaks more than passable English.
“We have all the infrastructure and extraordinary stadiums, maybe with just a little revamping, but everything is in place. We are an extremely hospitable nation as we showed in hosting the World Cup in 2006.”
Meticulous as a player, Lahm is adopting the same modus operandi when it comes to playing his part in the German bid team. When it is suggested to him that he is the David Beckham of Germany in terms of ambassadorial duties, he smiles modestly and dismisses such comparisons with the global English icon.
Yet what cannot be denied is that Beckham, for all his charm, status and fame, got nowhere near succeeding when acting as England’s 2018 World Cup ambassador. If Germany convince enough UEFA voters to back their Euro 24 bid on September 27, Lahm will have played his part to the full.
In a nutshell, he seems cut out for the role. Finishing playing, for Lahm, was certainly not something to be afraid of.
“Everything for me is about preparation,” he explained “The same as when I was a player. So I prepared myself for the end of my football career and for my life afterwards. Then along came this wonderful opportunity to become a bid ambassador. Everyone here has such great memories of how the country came together in 2006. It created an identity once again for Germany. Football unites all different peoples. I experienced this in 2006 and now we want another summer like those unbelievable weeks.”
But not one like this past summer when, as defending world champions, Germany experienced their worst World Cup for 80 years.
“I was as shocked as everyone. I have a six-year-old son and it was the first time he could follow a tournament like this. But what happened to us was not a new problem, it what happened to Italy in 2010 and to Spain in 2014 after they too had been world champions.”
Except this was Germany, serial winners. Which only makes Lahm even more determined to play his part in pulling off what would be another landmark victory in a couple of weeks’ time.
“Can being an ambassador swing votes? I’m not sure. I believe it certainly increases the popularity of the bid in Germany but whether it will impact on the nations of the UEFA exco members, I can’t say. I am doing everything I can to try and make it happen.”
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