Blagdon red

6 minutes ago, Never to the dark side said:

Just had a look at the World cup in Germany in 2006

No game kicked off before 3pm,considering that was a world wide audience

Considering that this tournament is for a mainly European audience,don't think they would schedule games before 3pm

So it could look something like 3pm 5pm 7pm and 9pm

although there are only 3 games per day up till the last two days of the group stages when there will four games each day

Those final group-stage games will surely be played simultaneously on the respective days. So, I'd suggest that there will be no need for 4 KO times. It may therefore end up as 3pm, 6pm and 9pm (it's already confirmed that the opening game will be a 9pm kick-off / 8pm UK time).

Yep, all just a blind ballot at the moment. But you have to be in it to win it:

https://www.euro2024ingermany.com/tickets

10 hours ago, sugarwray said:

Impressive site, in particular the out of town options

Cheers! Yes, I think looking at out of town options will be something a lot of people will want to do. The hotel prices on matchdays in the host cities are already quite high.

BTW, it was announced yesterday that match tickets will include 36 hours of free travel on public transport within the regional network around the respective host city, so getting to and from a hotel in the next town will be covered by that. Some more details here: https://www.euro2024ingermany.com/latest

10 hours ago, BS15_RED said:

Waiting for the draw to be made, then will start booking the flights and accommodation.

Understand re flights, as they can't usually be cancelled. But hotel rooms often can and prices will soar as soon as the draw is made. It's possible to 'beat the system' by reserving rooms now at current rates and then cancelling the ones you don't need once the draw is made.

See more here: https://www.euro2024ingermany.com/dates

Hallo Deutschland!

For all hoping to go, here's a shameless plug for my website Euro 2024 in Germany

Time to start planning that trip!

9 hours ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

With Helmut Schon managing Germany.

I didn’t realise your love of Germany and their football started so long ago - you would still have been in school then, sixth form - in fact, you would have left a year or so earlier - and Hanover was our German exchange town.

I have just seen that Dieter Muller was playing up front, seven years after his older brother, Gerd , bullied us in Mexico.

Also, one of Scotland’s former managers was also playing.

I'd just left BGS when I saw that game. It was 1977.

Funnily enough, I met Dieter Mueller's wife many years later, in 2006, at a cider farm (think Thatcher's, only scrumpy) that she runs not far from Frankfurt.

1 hour ago, redrum said:

Thanks for sharing this @Blagdon red

Off to Cologne for a weekend in late Feb with some fellow City fans to watch some Bundesliga, so will have a closer read. Prost! 

Enjoy. Prost!

PS: The first international I saw there (maybe the first game of any sort, I'm not sure) saw George Best in one team vs Rainer Bonhof in the other. What was the year?

6 minutes ago, Bris Red said:

Thank you for that mate - very informative. Me and a few mates are looking to get out there, hopefully we can get tickets for some England games but would be happy to just go and watch the games in fanzones if not..

Yeah, even in the fan zones it will be great fun. In 2006 the Germans actively encouraged fans to come and join in the party, even if they didn't have tickets for the games.

I know already, for instance, that in Frankfurt they'll be using the banks of the Main again (with a huge screen on a pontoon in the middle of the river), and in Berlin the wide avenue leading up to the Brandenburg Gate (Strasse des. 17 Juni) will again be closed to traffic and used exclusively as the 'Fan Mile'.

6 minutes ago, 8 men had a dream said:

Brilliant guide - thanks Jon.
I imagine that site (and yourself), will get much busier once the draw is made in December.

I expect so, yes. Though my advice for anyone hoping to go and planning to stay in hotels, is to reserve cancellable rooms now wherever you think you might need them and then cancel those you don't need once the draw has been made. Because as soon as people know where they need to be when, the demand for rooms will drive prices in the host cities sky high.

48 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

I've applied for second round matches in the Ruhn Valley cities, four stadiums all pretty close together

Which is the best place to stay for ease of access to Cologne, Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Dusseldorf? Somewhere interesting and ideally not Cologne as I've been before

You could have a look at Wuppertal.

Location-wise it would be very good for getting to all of those grounds. Hotels would also no doubt be cheaper there than in the host cities.

5 minutes ago, elhombrecito said:

Can definitely recommend Köln (Cologne) as a base, it's a great city. Unfortunately not very central for the groups it's in. 

Yeah, the RheinEnergie Stadion in Köln also one of my favourite German stadia: probably number three after Union Berlin's (of course!) and Dortmund. I like rectangular grounds!

The spread of venues is not particularly helpful in any of the groups, as my Venues by Group page shows. There's going to be a lot of travelling around.

5 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

Looks like you've covered everything, but if I think of anything I'll let you know.

Danke!

3 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

Very informative, thanks for that.

 

You're welcome!

Anything you think I should add / is missing??

If you're bored by the lack of club football at the moment, why not dream ahead to next summer?

As I did for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, I've put together an online guide for Euro 2024 in Germany, which - if you're thinking of going - will hopefully be of use to you.

With Scotland already qualified, England looking good and Wales still in with a shout, there could be loads of Brits out there next summer. If that will include you, which group would you prefer?

Yes. I remember a pause of disbelief in the crowd before Cashley raised his arms and the goal celebrations began.

Update:

Coventry game now fully booked. Tickets still available for WBA and Argyle, as shown above.

Our Fans for the Future tickets for games through to next March have nearly all been snapped up. However, there are still a few available, including for the West Brom game on Saturday, when we have 3 tickets up for grabs (2 adult tickets and 1 U19, but could be used for 1 adult and two kids).

For the Plymouth match next Tuesday there are 4 tickets available (1 adult and 3x U19) and for Coventry on 21 October 5 tickets up for grabs (1 adult and 4x U19).

More here: https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/kids-be-our-guests-take-5/

If you or a friend would like to use these to take kids to a game who have never been to AG or rarely get the chance to do so, please just get in touch by e-mailing FansOfTheFuture@bristolcitysupporters.org

1 minute ago, Sir Geoff said:

Thanks for this. Details forwarded, yesterday, to my daughter who emailed a request for Keynsham Under 7's.

Jolly good - the more, the merrier!

*** BUMP ***

40% of the available tickets have been booked up inside 24 hours.

If you'd like to take advantage of this offer, or know someone else who you think would like to introduce a group of kids to the joy (and pain) of a liftetime watching City, full details can be found here:

https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/kids-be-our-guests-take-5/

The Supporters Club & Trust is delighted to announce that our 'Fans of the Future' free tickets scheme is returning for a fifth season.

Full details and information on how to book tickets for a group of up to 8 can be found here:

https://www.bristolcitysupporters.org/kids-be-our-guests-take-5/

On 10/06/2023 at 18:51, PHILINFRANCE said:

My wife is German, and I have been visiting Germany several times a year since the mid 1980s.

You may be correct that ‘basic’ housing outside of the major cities is less expensive than in the UK, but may also be surprised at how expensive decent properties are in the more prosperous towns.

Don’t even look at Munich, or Bavaria in general, and I am sure @Blagdon red will be able to confirm that property prices in Berlin have rocketed in recent years.

Re. lower retirement age and better pensions, my German sister in-law retired some years ago when in her early 40s due to mental health problems.

In brief, she worked for a national company and found it stressful driving 100km every day to and from her new office to which she had recently been promoted - she had worked previously in an office almost a brisk walk from her apartment, but her former position was no longer available and it was decided it would be demeaning to send her back to her former office in a lesser position.

In brief, rather than make her redundant, they offered her early retirement on medical grounds on a virtual 100% pension; inflation protected, of course.

My sister in-law and her partner, recently retired himself, have recently traded in their top of the range Mercedes estate - 100K kilometres on the clock - for a custom made mobile home, two beds, shower, fully equipped kitchen, satellite TV etc.

Yes, I think Germany has a pretty good social and pension system.

 

 

 

Yep, Berlin property prices have soared in recent years, but remain low, I'd say, for a European capital. Rents remain affordable for most and all landlord/tenant laws favour tenants.

Back to the main subject of the thread, the German 50+1 rule and the fact that several top clubs remain 100% members' clubs also mean that the spectre of a league in which all the clubs are owned by yanks or sheikhs is not about to become reality in Germany any time soon.

18 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

Love it Jon. Well done to Union! Turns out you can get Champions Legaue whilst having heritage assets protected in your articles!

But seriously, enjoy it mate!

Yep, and with no ownership by a foreign state or American asset strippers either! The club is 'owned' by 40,000+ members. It's like AFC Wimbledon getting into the CL.

20 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

They're my German club as well. I have yet to get round to watching them live, but I try to visit Berlin as often as possible, so it's on a to-do list for me. 

Sadly, missing out on the CL as it stands ... but only need one goal in the second half to change that!

54 minutes ago, Ska Junkie said:

I hope they get stuffed. Bitter rivals of Dortmund unlike Bochum who are much closer.

As one who nailed his colours to the BvB mast, along with a few other City fans, many moons ago, I would love to be near the WFS next Saturday.

A few of ours had already organised a trip for the last game of the season but, sadly, I have a funeral on Friday so can't join them.

Stroebels (massive open bar outside the ground) will be absolutely bouncing on Saturday.

Auf gets BVB!

Good to see the proper name used!

1 hour ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

How do their FFP rules compare out of interest? Domestically I mean.

As you say Licensing and Solvency without doubt a big factor and tbh I look at a side like Bayern who are a) Debt free and b) Have posted profits for 10-15 years, maybe longer and wonder why they don't spend a bit more. I'm sure that they could spend more on wages, fees etc once in a while. They must be a million miles within whatever loss limits they are.

I expect Borussia Dortmund could spend more if they chose to.

 I don't know the details. But the basic assumption is that clubs will live within their means. Hence the key question at relicensing time each spring being 'Does the club have the liquidity to operate throughout the whole of the next season without getting into financial difficulty?' If through the required submission of their accounts and forecasts they are unable to demonstrate that, they don't get their licence renewed, which means forced relegation to a lower division. That threat keeps the clubs in line 99% of the time.

By comparison, our fines and fairly modest points deductions are no more than a slap on the wrist.