MUNICH: Euro 2024 kicks off on Friday in Germany as continent’s footballing heavyweights prepare to fight it out over next month with the aim of taking the crown away from reigning champions Italy.

Germany play Scotland in the opening game in Munich and the host nation are hoping their journey will continue all the way to the final in Berlin on July 14.It is the first time the country has hosted a major men’s international tournament since the 2006 World Cup, and it is a mouth-watering setting after the underwhelming nature of the last European Championship.Euro 2020 was delayed by a year because of the pandemic, finally taking place in 2021 in front of limited crowds. It was also staged in cities all across the continent, from Seville to Baku, and those factors stripped away much of what makes these tournaments so special. This time all supporters will descend on Germany, where matches will be played in 10 stadiums, from Hamburg in the north to Munich in the south. Germans are hoping for a repeat of 2006, when many fell in love with their national team again after a period in the doldrums similar to what they have experienced in the years leading up to this competition.Philipp Lahm, the captain of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning team and now Euro 2024 tournament director, also hopes the competition will bring people together at a time of division and disunity across the continent.The tournament begins less than a week after far-right parties made significant gains in EU parliament elections, while Europe is still dealing with the crisis of the war in Ukraine.“I hope at the very least the Euro will lead to a more united Germany again,” said Lahm.A good performance by Germany on the field would help, and the outlook is more positive for Julian Nagelsmann’s team now than a few months ago.

A group also containing Hungary and Switzerland should be straightforward enough given the quality in Germany’s ranks, from veteran playmaker Toni Kroos to younger stars Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala.“We have gone through difficult phases as a national team, but something big can happen here,” Musiala, of Bayern Munich, told Sportbild.