One more year, then the men’s European football championship will kick off. On June 14, 2024, the German national team as hosts in Munich will meet an opponent who has yet to be drawn. It will be exactly 18 years ago that Oliver Neuville scored the decisive 1-0 win over Poland in added time in the second German World Cup group game in 2006.
“That was the can opener”, says Jana Wiske. Back then, on June 14, 2006, today’s professor and media scientist was still an editor at the specialist magazine “foosball” employed: “The house shook at the gate. There was a public viewing nearby. The excitement swept over.”
World Cup 2006: Four weeks of euphoria
Due to the wave of euphoria, the four weeks of the World Cup in Germany are still viewed by many as “summer fairy tale” designated. Even if there is strong evidence that before the award to Germany officials were bribed, who on other occasions have been proven to hold out their hands.
In the period between the opening game, which Germany won against Costa Rica in Munich, and the third-place game, which the German team won against Portugal and was then celebrated like a world champion, a wave of euphoria swept over Germany, which only a few disturbed.
Present: “If things continue as they are now, I see black”
Will the EM 2024 with ten venues spread over seven federal states become a second “summer fairy tale” that will once again inspire the masses? “It stands and falls largely with the sporting success of the German team.”says Professor Wiske, who has been teaching media studies at Ansbach University for years.
DFB team currently – looking for the recipe for success
“If things continue as they are now, I see black”, she says. However, she still gives the German team chances to rekindle euphoria, but limits: “I don’t see the players and national coaches who identify with them like they did back then.”
German team at that time with Klinsi, Poldi, Schweini
Back then, team boss Klinsi (Jürgen Klinsmann) cheered on the country and the players Poldi (Lukas Podolski) and Schweini (Bastian Schweinsteiger), today Hansi (Flick) is looking for the right staff and system.
World Cup 2006 in Germany: Lukas Podolski (left) and Bastian Schweinsteiger
Hardly anyone looks euphorically at the European Championships, the performance in recent years was too bad for that: out in the round of 16 of the European Championships 2020, in autumn 2022 for the second time in a row the failure in the group phase of a World Cup.
Radical turning inside out – this time too
After that, the German Football Association (DFB) turned things around. It wasn’t as radical as it was at Klinsi, but Olli (Oliver Bierhoff, who was involved at the time) had to go, Rudi (Völler) came as interim sports director with the huge order, Bierhoff’s marketing monster “The team” from the minds of the fans and arouse interest in the EM.
More than the occasional public training sessions, diligent autographs and interviews from Völler, in which he demands enthusiasm not only from the fans but also from politics as a preliminary, there has not yet been any sign of the new course. Three goals conceded and a home defeat against Belgium, now three goals conceded and only one draw against Ukraine in the 1000th cap give more cause for doubt than euphoria.
Before the 2006 World Cup: Alarm mood after 1: 4 in Italy
But there were no signs of euphoria before the 2006 World Cup. Germany came second at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea with the celebrated team boss “Nur ein’ Rudi Völler”. But that was more of a nice gift for the German “Rumpelfussball” that goalkeeper Oliver Kahn got himself.
At the 2000 European Championship, the German selection was eliminated after the preliminary round, as was the case in Portugal in 2004 with Rudi Völler. After his successor Klinsmann lost the first friendly in the 2006 World Cup 4-1 in Italy, angry politicians wanted to drag the team boss to the Sports Committee of the Bundestag to declare bankruptcy and demand solutions.
Low point before the 2006 World Cup – The 1:4 against Italy
It didn’t come to that. It came to “summer fairy tale”which was also perceived as such by Jana Wiske: “We also had a few guests at our house. They said that they didn’t know Germany like that. I found the atmosphere to be very positive, true to the motto: ‘The world as a guest with friends’.”
“Nationalism and football toxic mixture”
dr Clemens Heni was one of those who was bothered by the black, red and gold overkill with small flags on car mirrors, printed flags on crisp bags and baked goods, flags with make-up on their faces and large fabric flags. Heni is a political scientist. His research focuses on anti-Semitism and the New Right.
“Back then, that wasn’t healthy patriotism, as is always claimed. It’s also hard to imagine in Germany, because it always goes hand in hand with a devaluation of the memory of the Holocaust.”according to Heni.
Thesis: without the 2006 World Cup, the AfD will not gain strength
His thesis: Without the 2006 World Cup, neither the right-wing extremist Pegida (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West) nor the AfD would have become so strong. “Nationalism and football is a toxic mixture in Germany. If only because the attempt to ignite enthusiasm ignores the fact that well over 20 percent of the population do not have a German passport or have a migration background.”according to Heni.
In the ARD Germany trend published at the beginning of June, the AfD comes to 18 percent, just like the SPD, which provides the Federal Chancellor.
Professor Jana Wiske says that in 2006 it was certainly easier to get excited about a big football tournament, which is also just a sporting event: “We were certainly more carefree back then.”