The board of the German Football Association (DFB) in Frankfurt has today decided on the ten venues it will propose in its application to host the UEFA Euro 2024 championship. The cities of Berlin (Olympiastadion), Munich (Allianz Arena), Düsseldorf (ESPRIT arena), Stuttgart (Mercedes-Benz Arena), Cologne (RheinEnergieSTADION), Hamburg (Volksparkstadion), Leipzig (Red Bull Arena), Dortmund (Signal Iduna Park), Gelsenkirchen (VELTINS-Arena) and Frankfurt (Commerzbank-Arena) have been chosen to be put forward as part of the application process. Nuremberg (Max-Morlock-Stadion), Hanover (HDI-Arena), Mönchengladbach (BORUSSIA-PARK) und Bremen (Weserstadion) were the cities not selected.
To guarantee a transparent and anti-discriminatory selection process, the DFB selected the venues before UEFA select the Euro 2024 hosts. The board’s decision comes after a complex evaluation of submitted documents by an assessment committee, which has been carried out over the past few months. As well as rating clearly-defined and scrutinised criteria based on UEFA’s specifications, site visits were undertaken at all the stadia to have a closer look at the limitations of each venue. External professionals were called in to examine specifications in addition to the DFB’s experts.
Grindel: “Submit a strong application for German football”
At the end of the process, the assessment committee sent a ranking to the board along with the reasoning behind the order. The board unanimously agreed with the committee’s recommendations and declared the venues with which the DFB will apply to UEFA before 27th April 2018 to be Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Cologne, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen and Frankfurt. The selection process was monitored by Transparency International, who had a look into the application documents and evaluation papers. Moreover, the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz’s evaluation matrix was used to check the mathematical accuracy.
DFB president Reinhard Grindel says: “I would like to thank the representatives for all 14 cities and stadia who applied. We spoke to all applicants following the DFB board’s meeting today – it was particularly important for us to thank those who were not chosen. The DFB board has no sporting or political bias for or against any venue – we followed the recommendations of the assessment committee, who examined all the applications in a detailed, transparent and exemplary extended procedure. We are thankful to Transparency International for seeing over the selection process. I hope that the four cities which weren’t chosen will help with our common goal of making Euro 2024 happen in Germany and to submit a strong application for German football as a whole next year.”
Curtius praises “meticulous and committed” applications
DFB general secretary Dr. Friedrich Curtius says: “An intense process, during which the applicants had to meet thorough requirements, has ended with the choice of ten locations with which we wish to apply to UEFA. They submitted meticulous and committed applications and I am very thankful for that. The assessment committee defined strict, clear and consistent criteria for all applicants. Every venue can see all the strengths and weaknesses of their candidacies in the evaluative report. We will now assemble an application together with the ten selected venues, which presents Germany in the best possible light to UEFA for Euro 2024 and we will support this project with great enthusiasm.”
Football associations of interested nations must lodge all documents with UEFA before 27th April 2018. The hosts will be named in the September of that year.