NYON/FRANKFURT: All 20 qualified teams for this year’s UEFA Euro finals plus hosts Germany have confirmed the team base camps from where they will travel to their respective matches and stay between the games during the tournament, which kicks off in Munich on June 14.
Hosts Germany have announced they will reside in Herzogenaurach in Bavaria, title holders Italy have picked Iserlohn in North-Rhine Westphalia and UEFA EURO 2020 finalists England have chosen Blankenhain in Thuringia.
All teams will check into their base camps at least five days before their first match, aiming to extend their stay in their “home away from home” until the final, which takes place at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on July 14.
The match schedule, drawn up with sustainability a factor in the tournament regulations, has been designed for teams to play their group stage matches only across two regional clusters in order to reduce travel distances for teams and fans between the host cities.
This favours team delegations travelling by train – offered through a partnership with Deutsche Bahn – or bus from their base camps to the match venues during the group stage, leaving a much smaller carbon footprint than at previous tournaments.
While anticipation will be growing in the chosen localities ahead of the teams’ arrival, the local population can look forward to each team conducting a public training session ahead of their first match, giving fans a chance to experience the stars of the tournament up close.
Many venues have committed to using their selection as a team base camp to make further infrastructural investments in their training sites, which should later benefit the local communities.
Initially, UEFA – together with the German Football Association (DFB), its travel agency DFB-Reisebüro GmbH and in close collaboration with local stakeholders – provided national associations with a team facilities catalogue offering federations a selection of options in close proximity to the ten host cities, each including a hotel and a related training base of the highest international standards.
Almost all the federations have chosen one of the pre-identified teams base camps. Following the conclusion of the play-offs in March, the three remaining teams to qualify for the final tournament will be able to choose from pre-reserved base camps.
Confirmed team base camps:
Albania – Kamen
Austria – Berlin
Belgium – Ludwigsburg
Croatia – Neuruppin
Czechia – Norderstedt
Denmark – Freudenstadt
England – Blankenhain
France – Paderborn
Germany – Herzogenaurach
Hungary – Weiler im Allgäu
Italy – Iserlohn
Netherlands – Wolfsburg
Portugal – Harsewinkel
Romania – Würzburg
Scotland – Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Serbia – Augsburg
Slovakia – Mainz
Slovenia – Wuppertal
Spain – Donaueschingen
Switzerland – Stuttgart
Türkiye – Barsinghausen