“There is nothing greater as an athlete”
Dec 3, 2025 10:08 p.m. | 1:44m
The 2029 Women’s European Football Championship will take place in Germany. The joy is correspondingly enormous.
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I believe that as an athlete there is nothing greater than being able to play a tournament in your own country. I can still remember getting into football through the 2006 World Cup because it inspired me so much and excited me so much. And I just hope that we can get a lot of young girls and boys involved because it’s simply more approachable when it’s on site. And that we can fill the stadiums so well and inspire many people with our football. Even if I myself.
No longer standing on the pitch. But I know what it’s like to play a home tournament at home. I was there back in 2011 and it’s just a completely different number. And I’m extremely happy for the current generation. And maybe one or two players will come along. Just being able to experience something like that.
I’m really happy to have a European Championship in my own country. And yes, as a footballer you can’t think of anything else or more beautiful.
Because we have invested so much at the DFB in the last year and a half, you almost have to say. We submitted over two and a half thousand pages of documents, and I don’t think anyone who doesn’t get into the details of such an application realizes how much work it actually is, how much staff and hours are involved, how many negotiations have to be conducted. With cities, with the federal government, with stadium operators. Everything has to fit. And UEFA wants to have concrete figures and see concrete contracts. We have done this meticulously over the last year and a half and secured political support at the DFB. I traveled around Europe a lot myself, promoted this tournament, and in the end it helped.