Preparations for the 2024 European Championships in Germany are in full swing.
Compared to the pan-European EM 2021, the final round will once more only be held in one country this time. The tournament will take place in ten different stadiums.
Compared to the World Cup in Qatar, the stadiums do not have to be built first, but ten existing venues can be used.
To do this, however, UEFA had to change the stadium names, since the EM should only include sponsor names that also support the tournament. Eight stadiums have had their names changed. Only the Olympiastadion in Berlin and the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg keep their regular names.
Two English stadium names
As the “Kicker” reports, for example, the home ground of FC Bayern Munich, the “Allianz Arena”, becomes the “Munich Football Arena”. This phase begins a month before the opening game on June 14th. The alternate names are intended to be effective during the tournament only and will be reversed following the finals.
Besides “Munich Football Arena” there is only one other English name. The stadium of 1. FC Köln is being changed from the “Rhein-Energie-Stadion” to the “Cologne Arena”.
Twelve month long process
The BVB and Schalke stadiums will be the only ones that will also contain the club name during the European Championship. The “Signal-Iduna-Park” becomes the “BVB Stadion Dortmund”. The “Veltins Arena” will be called “Arena auf Schalke” for around two months.
The four remaining stadiums are as follows: “Fankfurt Arena”, “Düsseldorf Arena”, “Stuttgart Arena” and “Leipzig Stadium”.
The process of finding a name was not a short one, according to the report, the procedure took around twelve months until the ten selected were agreed.