Philipp Lahm: EURO 2024 has made a visible impact
Friday, July 12, 2024
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UEFA EURO 2024 tournament director Philipp Lahm believes reinvesting in amateur football is the competition's greatest legacy.
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UEFA EURO 2024 has already made a visible impact on youth and amateur clubs right across Germany. Everyone is talking about it. Kids are trying to emulate goals in training, imitating the celebrations they saw the night before.
Four weeks of floodlit drama is fuelling a nation's desire to play the beautiful game. But few people know about the tournament's biggest legacy: its proceeds will once again be reinvested to support hundreds of development projects across European football.
Since 2004, on average more than half of the net revenue from every EURO has been distributed among Europe's 55 national associations via the UEFA HatTrick programme to promote the growth of football in their country. After 20 years and five men's European Championships, the largest solidarity fund in sport has distributed a total of €2.6bn, financing more than 800 projects.
EURO 2024 will be no exception. UEFA has already committed €935m from the net revenue of the tournament for investment in numerous different projects.
From Iceland to Malta, from Portugal to Azerbaijan, EURO funds have helped the associations to build stadiums and training centres and to improve coach training, refereeing and administration.
The UEFA Academy, which offers training and research programmes in football management, leadership, administration, communication, law and football medicine, is financed by EURO revenue.
HatTrick money is also used to fund mini-pitches, the training of amateur coaches, school football and many other initiatives. This increases participation in football for everyone, regardless of ability, age, gender or ethnicity.
How HatTrick has reinvested money from the EUROs
'Treffpunkt fussball': Supporting amateur football
As tournament director, I also have a certain responsibility. Through the Philipp Lahm Foundation, my colleague Celia Šašić and I have launched an initiative that strengthens amateur football and its community of volunteers. It's called 'treffpunkt fussball' (Meeting Point: Football) and helps clubs to network and learn from each other. We also want to facilitate contact with potential sponsors.
A good example of how treffpunkt fussball works is the 'Gemeinsam Essen sehen' (Seeing Essen together) project. Essen is the tenth largest city in Germany and is a densely populated area in the centre of the Ruhr region. A motorway divides it into northern and southern halves. As in other Ruhr metropolises, the A40 acts like an asphalt divide for the residents, which they rarely cross – if ever.
"UEFA has already committed €935m from the net revenue of the tournament for investment in numerous different projects."
Together with BV Altenessen from the north of the city, Sportfreunde Essen have initiated a cooperation project with a difference. Twice a year, youth teams from both clubs go on a joint discovery tour through Essen. In a chartered bus, they travel to important historical areas, where tour guides share knowledge in a fun and entertaining way. The day finishes with a football match and a meal together.
The Philipp Lahm Foundation supports this project and many others. Amateur football provides an initial contact with the game for many children, so it's important that it's a positive experience, one which creates a lifelong love of football. If they feel the positive benefits of exercise and teamwork and self-expression, then the best possible foundations will have been laid. Football can bring the most diverse mix of people together.
As in the past with major football events, many children and young people will sign up for amateur clubs after the European Championship. Football must welcome them with open arms and safe, secure environments in which to play the game.
Strengthening the evolving landscape of European football
You have to invest the funds in a way that serves a long-term purpose. In the case of EURO 2024, that purpose is to strengthen football as a European national sport. The European Championship is attractive from a sporting point of view. It inspires countless people to get involved in the game and is commercially successful too. I was initially sceptical when the tournament was expanded to 24 countries. Now I'm glad that so many can take part. United by Football is the motto – a European Championship for everyone.
In order for competitions such as EURO and the Champions League to continue providing impetus and strengthening our society, they must constantly evolve. Simplification isn't always the answer – it's a permanent and complicated process and needs the backing of an institution.
I'm involved in philanthropy, but I think institutions like UEFA are important. Adapting to change can only happen if credible people are involved and this was evident in the successful delivery of EURO 2024. Now we have a duty to continue in the same vein – all of us. That is my conclusion as tournament director, that is my message.