How Germany’s football is tied to its politics

SO EURO 2024 did not finish with triumph for Germany. The host country’s tournament ended after a valiant 2-1 defeat to Spain on July 5th. But performances still exceeded the expectations of fans who had seen Die Mannschaft stumble to defeat against Austria and Turkey in friendly matches late last year. Hosting this year’s European football championship with little chance of success seemed to fit the sour mood of a country that an unpopular government is trying to steer through various crises. But instead, the efforts by Julian Nagelsmann, the coach, and his players ended up indicating a way to lift the country out of its malaise.

Germany has often associated footballing moments with larger political events. Take Das Wunder von Bern (the miracle of Bern) in 1954, when West Germany beat the highly favoured Hungarians to claim a first World Cup. That provided glory enough, but it also helped bring a country devastated both by war and by the scale of its political and moral failure back to its feet. It would go on to join NATO a year later, and a nascent EU two years after that.