Dear friends of the art of soccer,
The EURO2024 ended yesterday.
I was aware from the start that it was going to be a big project, but I hadn't expected this big of a challenge.
Especially at the beginning, it went from one match to the next. The first eleven matches from the opening game in Munich (the best stadium!) took place in just 13 days. And that in five different stadiums and cities. The highlights of these matches were definitely the Germany games against Scotland and Hungary, but also Spain-Croatia in Berlin and the Netherlands against France in Leipzig. But the Serbian and Romanian fan camps also provided a loud and impressive backdrop that Western European fan stands could rarely surpass.
For me, a match day usually started with the journey to the venue at midday on the train (on average 25 minutes late with a journey time of 3 hours!). Then it was on to the stadium, where we met up with the entertainment team 4 hours before kick-off. After a short tour of the hospitality area, the schedule was discussed. Our show agency Fogelkaiser usually had two freestylers at the start, mirror dancers, DJs and sometimes music acts such as singers, percussionists or saxophonists. We then alternate between the UEFA VIP and the UEFA Clubs. The VIP accommodates all the officials of UEFA and the two playing nations, as well as important politicians and A-list celebrities. The sponsors have tables in the Club, which they either fill with employees and business partners or raffle off via prize draws. The atmosphere is usually much better in the Club, where there is often a bit of a party after the games. Meanwhile, only very discreet lounge music was played in the VIP.
Three hours before kick-off, it was usually time for us to hit the ball for the first time, when we greeted the guests at the entrance with a few moves. This was followed by duo shows in the club and shows in the VIP, where I went from table to table and presented my soccer skills to the guests very individually in small 60-90s sets. From 30 minutes before kickoff, we went to the stadium and looked for a place to watch the game.
After the game we went back to work, there were two more shows in the VIP and club. We were often in the stadium for 6-7 hours and the clock showed over 20,000 steps. The only advantage was that most of the stadium visitors were already at home by then and public transport was no longer overcrowded. After this long day, it was not very difficult to fall asleep in the evening. That's a rough outline of the match days from us freestylers' point of view.
Now back to the schedule. On July 1, I started with the knockout matches. Portugal faced Slovenia in Frankfurt. Of course, almost everything revolved around Cristiano Ronaldo, who missed chance after chance. In the end, it went to the first penalty shoot-out, which unfortunately extended our working day by another hour. Nevertheless, it was a great experience to experience this excitement live on site.
Another highlight was the quarter-final in Stuttgart on July 5 between Germany and Spain. The moment when the 1:1 equalizer was scored at the end was the moment during the whole Euro, with the best atmosphere in the whole stadium, pure ecstasy!
The semi-final in Munich between France and Spain was rather quiet, both Spain and France did not come with the biggest and loudest fan groups, but you could tell that the tension in the semi-final was already higher compared to the previous rounds.
Even before the final, England versus Spain, I was very confident that Spain would win the title. On the one hand, because they deserved it in terms of play and England even less so. On the other hand, also because of the unsympathetic and far too convinced England fans :) And in the end it happened as everyone had expected. We made our way to the stadium in beautiful Berlin sunshine, where you could already feel the special atmosphere outside the stadium. The controls and preparations for the game had been tightened once again and the tension was greater. An early Spanish goal was followed by an English equalizer, which got the crowd full of English fans excited and it was almost assumed that the momentum could shift. However, the Spaniards fought their way back and scored the deserved final goal of the European Championship. Afterwards, we went to the hospitality area, which was naturally very well attended compared to many other matches. The big highlight of the evening was a performance with DJ trio Meduza and in front of many top German athletes in the Adidas House.
In conclusion, I have to say that the European Championships were a great event, even though it required a lot of stamina. I definitely underestimated the best performance on many days in a row, coupled with long journeys and little regeneration at the beginning. That's why I have the greatest respect for all the athletes for whom this is everyday life! My thanks go to Fogelkaiser for the organization, of course, but also to all the other performers with whom we breathed some action into the lounges. Here's to hopefully many more great sporting events in Germany!
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