One of the best-known squares in London has been occupied by UEFA: Trafalgar Square serves as a fan area for the European Football Championship. There is still little of the hype about the finale to be seen on other tourist magnets. When the English team plays Germany at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, it will be different.
The guards in front of Buckingham Palace march up and down in their legendary uniform of red jackets, black trousers and tall black bearskin hats, weapons in hand. Watched by hundreds of onlookers from all over the world, who feel badly sorry for their warm clothes in the bright sunshine and summer temperatures. A long line of people stretches through Green Park, which separates the nearby underground station from the palace. It’s really crowded a few hundred meters further in Piccadilly Circus. Crowds of tourists are also jostling for the best photo on the Thames at Big Ben, the London Eye Ferris wheel is constantly turning. Everything as always in London.
Play or relax, that’s the question in the fan area.
(Photo: Anja Rau)
But not quite. Another tourist hotspot looks different than usual: Trafalgar Square. The place is fenced off, security personnel guard the area, but the mood is exuberant. The fan area for the European Football Championship is located on Trafalgar Square. It’s one of those rare places where you can tell that something really big is about to happen in the city. There is only advertising for the EM in a few streets around the square. Otherwise there is no sign of euphoria less than 48 hours before the final kicks off between the hosts from England and Germany (Sunday, 6 p.m. / ARD, DAZN and in the ntv.de live ticker). London is too much of a tourist magnet that not only football fans visit. The city is too big and the metropolis of nine million has too many different districts for everything to revolve around just one event.
Popp makes it into English headlines
It looks different if you look at the headlines at the kiosks. “Fate calls,” headlines the “Daily Express”. “Come on England” with a photo collage of young players and professionals has the “Evening Standard” on the front page. The “Mirror” wants to make “the secrets behind the success of the Lionesses” palatable to its readers. “The Telegraph” trumps with “Ex-zoo keeper wants to tame lionesses”. What was meant was DFB captain Alexandra Popp, who once learned this profession – and with her six goals already was identified by the English as the greatest danger in the final. The lionesses are the “lionesses”, the English selection.
And that’s what the fan area was all about on Friday afternoon. A moderator and a moderator entertained the numerous interested people on the square. Those who didn’t want to gamble a bit in the cage themselves, test their ability to react or prove their talent at holding the ball up, mostly relaxed in a deck chair in front of the big stage. Surrounded by three mascots of the tournament, there were souvenirs to be won in a quiz. How many lions can be seen on the jersey was one of the questions. (There are three of them.) Followed by who is the record holder. (Germany.) There was an official match ball to be won for the answer to the question of how high England won against Norway. A teenager literally jumped in front of the microphone and knew: 8:0. He stressed that he should know, he was Norwegian. The drama brought him at least one consolation prize.
Commonwealth Games as strong competition
Many parents are with their children on the festival grounds this afternoon, many tourists are interested and stroll across the square with bags from the surrounding souvenir shops. Not everyone knows what’s going on here. Snippets of conversation in English, Spanish, Arabic blow by, and yes, also in German. Anke with her daughters Melina and Hanna from Göttingen is on a city trip in the summer holidays in London. They are quite easy to identify as Germans, all three wear mouth-nose masks, this corona virus protection is almost only seen in England among people from Germany or Asia. Most of the others do not take any precautions against the virus, despite the high number of infections. The three of them ended up in the fan area by accident, actually they have nothing to do with football. They left town again for the finale, so they can’t attend the public viewing in front of the famous monument to Admiral Nelson. But the daughters and their mother want to watch the game on TV.
They have that in common with many millions of others in England and Germany. More than twelve million people watched the semifinals of the DFB team against France on ZDF, in England 9.3 million viewers tuned in to the BBC for the game against Sweden the night before. Eight-year-old Tess, who was a fan at the stadium and danced to “Sweet Caroline” completely absorbed, became a star thanks to a video. After a video on BBC One with her grandmother, the broadcaster gave her a great gift: a ticket to the final.
So TV knows all about the hype about the England team, which has never won the European title. But other sports are still on TV: The Commonwealth Games opened in Birmingham on Thursday, and since Friday morning there has been sports all day on BBC One – such as triathlon, rugby and netball. After all: There is a regular program notice for the big showdown with the eight-time European Championship winner Germany on Sunday. Then there will be a desire for football not only in Trafalgar Square in London.