UEFA and DFB have announced the “most sustainable European Football Championship of all time”. If possible, fans should not travel by car or plane, but by train. But with the first 1.2 million tickets, a great opportunity was missed.
The first phase of ticket allocation is over: 1.2 million of the 2.7 million tickets for the European Football Championship in Germany have been distributed. This also means that fans are now submitting their vacation, booking hotels and planning 1.2 million arrivals and departures.
The organizers want EM ticket holders to receive discounts when traveling from neighboring European countries Interrail-Offer tickets and discounted long-distance transport tickets for journeys within Germany – for the first time at an EM. An ICE journey across the Federal Republic should only cost around 30 euros.
Environmental scientists and associations believe that this is an effective incentive so that fans do not take the plane or car to the venue, but rather the train. This could significantly reduce the tournament’s large CO2 footprint. Because the arrival of the fans accounts for the largest part of the CO2 emissions.
1.2 million missed opportunities
The problem: The discounted train journeys cannot currently be booked. And there isn’t even a mention of this in UEFA’s confirmation email for the European Championship tickets. The sale of train offers won’t start until mid-January and then Deutsche Bahn wants to start advertising.
“That’s too late“, says Jens Hilgenberg from the German Association for Environmental and Nature Conservation (BUND). If you want to use the train service to reach fans who don’t otherwise take the train, you have to make it as easy as possible for them. “That would mean being able to book a train ticket directly when booking the ticket for the game and not just afterwards.”says Hilgenberg. “This is an opportunity that is now being missed.”
Or: 1.2 million missed opportunities. Almost half of the fan trips that take place at the European Championships could already be planned when the Interrail offer and Deutsche Bahn’s long-distance transport offer come onto the market.
Fewer parking spaces planned at the stadiums
In the end, maybe the fans will be annoyed too. The EM organizers want to make traveling by train more attractive than by car – and not just in terms of price. They also want to resort to measures that some fans might not like, but that make sense from an ecological perspective.
“The European Championship’s sustainability concept also states that there are fewer parking spaces than usual at the stadiums. This also needs to be communicated“, says Jens Hilgenberg, who looks after transport policy at BUND. “It must be made clear to people that the more convenient and ecological way is to travel by train. This needs to be told to people.“
Discounted Interrail tickets: biggest opportunity and biggest question mark
The least is currently known about the Interrail ticket, which is said to be cheaper for EM ticket holders than the normal Interrail offer. Like the long-distance tickets from Deutsche Bahn, this ticket should also be available for booking from mid-January. But Deutsche Bahn and its partner company want to know how attractive the price will be and how much effort the ticket will have to promote in neighboring European countries Eurail and also EURO 2024 GmbH does not comment.
This ticket is perhaps the best way to save CO2. “The international Interrail ticket is particularly good. When done right, it’s a huge lever“, says Jens Hilgenberg from BUND. A train journey from Amsterdam to Munich, for example, is possible with just one change. “If people take the train instead of taking the plane, then of course that makes a huge, huge difference.”
And Hilgenberg also points out: “If a few of the participating teams traveled by train, that would also be a sign to the fans. Let’s see how UEFA manages this.”
Big promises on the Press conferences for the Transportation concept
EM ambassador Philipp Lahm likes to emphasize that Germany wants to host the most sustainable European football championship of all time and wants to be a role model for subsequent major events.
It was only in October that he said at a press conference about the transport concept: “It’s about creating attractive offers. We can’t talk about sustainability, but then the citizens should pay for it themselves. And we are also trying to be a pioneer for the next events and show UEFA that it is possible to create such offers.”
A local transport ticket will also be integrated into every EM ticket. But this is nothing new at major events inside and outside of sport. The EURO 2024 only has the potential to be a role model in transport policy if the Interrail and DB long-distance transport tickets take effect.
Environmental groups want to be more involved
The idea for discounted train tickets came about before Germany’s bid for the European Championships in 2018. Some transport and environmental associations were involved. After that, Jens Hilgenberg from BUND didn’t hear much from EURO 2024 GmbH. Other large environmental associations were not involved at all.
“I would have liked the DFB, which was accepted for this European Championship primarily because of its sustainability concept, to involve the local people more in the organization” says Hilgenberg.
Hilgenberg still believes the plan with reduced long-distance tickets is right and good. But the potential therein is not being exhausted because 1.2 million EM tickets have now been allocated without reference to the train offers.
Why do the tickets only come in January?
Did EURO 2024 GmbH not push the project forward enough with the discounted long-distance tickets? Did Deutsche Bahn take too long to implement it? None of the companies involved officially comment on the areas of responsibility. The Federal Ministry of Transport points out that the offer is an independent business decision by Deutsche Bahn.
She brushes off the criticism that she’s late and says: “We look forward to presenting the product details to domestic and international fans in January 2024, a good five months before the start of the game.”
Organizers don’t want to be measured by sales numbers
“Making things just so they look nicer on paper. That’s not our approach at all, it has to work and it has to add value“, said Markus Stenger, managing director of EURO 2024 GmbH, at a press conference on the subject of traffic.
How many discounted Interrail and ICE tickets have to be sold so that the project is not just a success on paper? Deutsche Bahn, its partner Eurail and EURO 2024 GmbH did not want to comment on this question.