Germany beat Turkey 12-4 to win right to host Euro 2024

By Andrew Warshaw in Nyon

September 27 – Germany won the right to stage the 2024 European Championship  today as Turkey’s dreams of taking the tournament to new frontiers were once again rejected by UEFA’s executive committee.

In a two-horse race, the Germans, who are already staging four matches at the pan-European Euros in 2020, broke Turkish hearts as UEFA members voted 12 to 4 (one abstention) against them, backing Germany’s status as supreme organisers, despite growing nervousness in the latter stages of bidding that they had done enough to get over the line, leading to a palpable sense of tension in the auditorium.

Turkey’s failure at the fourth time of asking will be a bitter pill to swallow for their bid team who were desperate to make up for the one-vote defeat for Euro 2016 eight years ago when then UEFA president Michel Platini cast the all-important decisive vote for his native France.

This time the sitting UEFA president was Platini’s successor Aleksander Ceferin but because of the fact that UEFA still conducts this kind of business by secret ballot, it was not immediately known which way the Slovenian voted.

Rarely has World Cup or Euro voting been held with such media scrutiny. Uefa did not allow reporters or cameramen into their headquarters in Nyon until just over an hour before the announcement.

The German delegation, which had flown in former European Clubs Association Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to lobby on their behalf,  was clearly jubilant having predicted at least 10 votes among the 17 members who were eligible to take part.

In the end UEFA took the decision to go for the safe option following what is already proving a logistical headache for 2020.
Exco members followed the recommendations of UEFA’s evaluation panel which had thrown up various concerns about the Turkish bid, not least the lack of a human rights action plan and questions about economic stability.

“We did what we could,” a dejected Servet Yardimci,  whose bid team had gone second after Germany in the final presentation to UEFA members, told insideWorldFootball. “That’s four times we’ve tried now. I don’t think we will bid again.”

In the build-up to the vote, DFB President Reinhard Grindel said 2024 had to be staged somewhere that was “economically prudent and environmentally friendly in the heart of Europe.”

He added that it also had to be held “ in a country that is politically and economically stable.”

Ultimately enough of UEFA’s voting members agreed with those sentiments.

The decision means Germany will stage the European Championship for the first time as a unified country, with West Germany having hosted the 1988 tournament, while Turkey is yet to host a major international football tournament having failed with attempts to host the Euros in 2008, 2012 and 2016 fail, as well as the 2020 Summer Olympics.

So disappointed were the Turkish delegation at the margin of defeat that they left Uefa headquarters almost as soon as the envelope with Germany’s name was opened by Ceferin.

The UEFA president was at pains to point out that it was a democratic vote between two nations who had made “very strong bids” .
“The procedure was transparent. The voting was democratic. Every democratic decision is the right decision so I can only say I am looking forward to seeing a fantastic Euro in 2024.”

But the Turks clearly felt let down having felt they had ticked as many boxes as they possibly could.

“We are very disappointed and still trying to take it in,” said Yardimci after travelling straight to Geneva airport as not a single member of his delegation spoke to the media in what smacked partly of sour grapes even though the Turkish dejection was understandable.

Euro 2024 will feature 24 teams, taking place in June and July, with 51 games scheduled for up to 32 days.

Berlin will stage the final, while matches will also take place in Cologne, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart.

Former Germany captain Philipp Lahm, an ambassador for his country’s bid, said Germany would organise “a huge football party” while the DFB general secretary Friedrich Curtious put victory down to sheer hard work.

“We worked well as a team,” he said. “We are in the heart of Europe and everyone can come.  We are happy and relieved. It was a marathon campaign but now the real responsibility starts.”

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