Baerbock presents Football ambassadors for Euro 2024
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock presents the ambassadors for the European Championships in Germany, including Steffi Jones, Rudi Völler and Miroslav Klose.
Berlin (d.de) - Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock introduced the Federal Foreign Office’s Football Ambassadors for the 2024 European Championships in Germany. The former players are to reach out to people across the whole of Europe in the run-up to the competition.
“We’re celebrating football with our shared values of diversity, rules and respect,” said Baerbock at the event in the Federal Foreign Office. She said she hoped that the European Championships would reach out beyond the world of sport. The Federal Foreign Office’s Football Ambassadors are to promote this over the next few months. “At times like these it’s vital that we make use of every event to underline that democracy matters: a peaceful kickabout in the park is our democracy,” said the Federal Foreign Minister. Those named as ambassadors include former professional players such as Steffi Jones, Thomas Hitzlsberger, Arne Friedrich, Gerald Asamoah, Jimmy Hartwig, Rudi Völler and Miroslav Klose, and the former referee Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb.
Tournament Director Philipp Lahm and DFB President Bernd Neuendorf stressed how football can bring people together. “We want to feel more optimism again,” said Lahm with regard to the tournament.
Euro 2024 starts on 14 June in Munich and ends one month later with the final in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.