By Mark Baber
August 7 – German Football Association (DFB) president Wolfgang Niersbach has repeated his comments that his country may withdraw from the bidding to host the latter stages of Euro 2020, being spread across the entire continent, in order to concentrate on staging 2024 on its own.
If that were the case, Wembley’s counter-bid for the climax to the competition would be unchallenged and England could in turn support Germany to host the tournament four years later, rekindling the so-called “gentleman’s agreement” which England were claimed to be guilty of betraying over the 2006 World Cup.
With only Wembley and Munich’s Allianz Arena in the running to host the semi-finals and final of Euro 2020, which will be held in 13 different cities, Niersbach again said that the decision on whether to drop Munich’s bid for 2020, in order to boost its chances of hosting Euro 2024, remains “open”.
Niersbach told the Press Association: “We still have the two options – to host the final rounds or four matches in the first rounds. Our decision is open. We have an excellent and wonderful relationship with the England FA. We are sitting together very often and thinking about the possibilities of how we can support the other association.”
“It is still open but I am totally convinced that we will have both Wembley and Munich on the land map for Euro 2020. Discussions on the final round are still open. But we are very relaxed about it.”
Germany has already announced it will bid against Turkey to host Euro 2024 but whether it would win is very much open to question. The Turks strategically withdrew from Euro 2020 right on deadline, also to concentrate on 2024, and are likely to gain considerable support after losing out to France by one vote for 2016.
The all-important selection of the 13 cities for 2020 will be taken by the UEFA executive committee on September 19 with 19 contenders in the running, most targeting a package of three group-stage matches in the 24-team tournament, plus a single knockout match from the last 16 or quarter-finals. Bidders include Amsterdam, Baku, Bilbao, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Cardiff, Copenhagen, Dublin, Glasgow, Jerusalem, Minsk, Munich, Rome, St Petersburg, Skopje, Sofia and Stockholm.
Niersbach has previously indicated that Germany, who could still host early matches, could withdraw from the final stage if it would improve their chances of hosting Euro 2024. He argued: “This is not to sound arrogant, but Germany is the logical host. This is a European Championship with 24 teams and 51 games so you have to have nine to ten stadiums available. This is not possible for many countries, primarily for financial reasons.”
In 1997 the English Football Association announced it would bid for the 2006 World Cup, much to the disgust of both Germany and UEFA who claimed that then FA chairman Sir Bert Millichip had shaken hands on a “gentleman’s agreement” not to do so, on the basis of Germany would not stand in the way of England hosting Euro ’96, giving the Germans a free run at 2006.
UEFA’s then president Lennart Johansson was furious in case England split the European vote. As it turned out, all the Europeans bar one backed Germany which staged one of the best World Cups on record.
Niersbach, who was a spokesman for the DFB at the time, certainly won’t need reminding of that historical precedent, but his offer does present the English with the opportunity for some kind of historical redemption.
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