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Euro 2024 is not quite over yet, but I am already being asked how will it be remembered.
My answer is that it has been a success. Maybe it has not always been a great tournament for the football – that was on and off as much as the trains – but it’s been a good one for the reasons that really matter; the millions of fans who have come to Germany, and the shared experiences they got from watching football together and having a good time.
For us as hosts, it has been enjoyable too. In Germany, we started off by making comparisons with the 2006 World Cup, which was inevitable but unrealistic.
We’ve not had a second ‘summer fairytale’ or ‘Sommermarchen’ and Euro 2024 was not perfect or the best ever, but that does not necessarily mean it was disappointing. Far from it, in fact.
From the start, the fans stood out
Media caption,
Euro 2024: Inside Netherlands fans’ viral ‘bouncing’ celebrations
Sunday’s final is the 51st game since the tournament began 31 days ago with Germany playing Scotland on 14 June.
Not every game was outstanding and, being totally honest, there were some that were probably quite dull, but that is what major finals are usually like and there were still enough entertaining matches at every stage.
One of the things that became a theme of these Euros was how the smaller teams surprised us with some of their performances, while playing more attractive football than some of the bigger nations.
For me, though, right from the start, it was the fans that stood out. I will never forget the tens of thousands of Scotland supporters in Munich and how they carried on partying even after their team had lost heavily, and not a lot changed wherever I went.
I travelled thousands of miles to cover games in almost every city and I never saw a hint of trouble. Thankfully, any incidents like that anywhere have been very few and far between. From that perspective, of the safety and security of supporters, it has been peaceful, which is brilliant.
Instead I have just seen and heard things that have put a smile on my face – for example the mass fan walks to the stadium that the Dutch do before every game – or have left me deafened for days afterwards, like the Romania fans who turned up the volume when I was sitting with them during their draw with Slovakia.
Media caption,
Highlights: Slovakia and Romania both qualify in entertaining draw
I’ve seen the country and the tournament from the perspective of a German, a pundit and a football fan, and enjoyed every aspect of all three.
The mix of watching football and meeting lovely like-minded people has been incredible -and so was interviewing Gary Lineker too. I spoke to him for German broadcaster ARD this week, which was quite special because he is a big name in world football and German football fans like him a lot.
Every time he says something in Germany, people listen, so the fact I could sit down with him for half an hour to discuss things talk about football, Germany and the Euros was a great privilege.
As well as putting together these columns, I’ve also had the chance to do some work with the BBC myself on a couple of occasions, so I could not have had a better tournament from a personal or professional point of view.
Just the beginning for Germany?
Media caption,
Highlights: Spain 2-1 Germany
One of the best games I saw also ended in the result that hurt the most – Germany’s defeat by Spain.
While I still think it could have gone the other way, I don’t think you can argue that Spain don’t deserve to be in the final – it’s just a shame we had to play them in the quarter-finals.
Losing in the last eight felt like an early exit for Germany but I would still say that, overall, Julian Nagelsmann’s side did OK.
More importantly, though, what we can take away from this tournament is that we have a bond between the Germany fans and the team again, after several years when the connection was not the best.
We don’t have a particularly young team, even with Toni Kroos retiring and Thomas Muller likely to stop playing international football too, but it is one that the supporters can identify with and that is a good place to be in going forward, even if there is still a lot of work to be done if are going to win anything anytime soon.
Now we have got two years to really make some progress before the 2026 World Cup, and this past month has to go down as a great beginning.
Nagelsmann gave us an exciting tournament at home, and now he has to build on that but there are some good ingredients in there, like the form of Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz.
Media caption,
Jamal Musiala scores to put Germany 2-0 ahead within 20 minutes
We have not made it to the final, though. As well as Spain, there is one team there on Sunday that we probably did not expect to see.
While Spain are the best team I have seen here, it is really interesting to see how things have shifted with England from a point where they were getting a lot of criticism to the praise they are receiving now.
It is going to be a really interesting match. Spain are the favourites but, on a personal level, I’d love to see Gareth Southgate win it, because he has done so much for your national team and built the right environment for success.
While I still get people here asking me why I support England, I don’t think anyone can blame me for that.
Thomas Hitzlsperger was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan in Berlin.
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