Frankfurt on the River Main is one of the 10 venues for this summer's Euro 2024. Fans from Belgium, Slovakia, Denmark, England and Romania will watch their teams here, as will German fans watching their side play its third group match. There will also be a round of 16 match.
If you are in Frankfurt for one of the matches or simply to stay during the tournament you might be asking: What is there to experience here from a fan's point of view? Where can you find a European championship atmosphere away from the stadium? And what else is on offer besides football? Here are some tips:
1. Public screenings
A floating screen is being installed on the Main River - with a screen area 144 square metres, an eye-catcher in the truest sense of the word. This means that the matches can be seen perfectly from the fan zone on the north bank.
However, the "Big Screen" will be just one of ten LED screens along the 1.4-kilometre "fan mile," which stretches from the Iron Footbridge to the Friedensbrücke ("Peace Bridge"). All 51 games of the European Championship finals will be broadcast. There is room for up to 10,000 spectators in front of the screens.
On the river's banks there is also a fan zone with four music stages, E-sports gaming facilities and football fields. A special highlight is a floating soccer pitch on the river. The fan zone is free of charge - no tickets are necessary.
2. Stadium
Five kilometres from the fan mile is the Frankfurter Arena, home of the Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt, located in the Stadtwald park in the southern part of the city. During the tournament it will be called Stadion Arena Frankfurt, with 47,000 seats.
Driving from the nearby Frankfurt-Süd motorway junction in hopes of finding a parking space close to the stadium is not a good idea: There will be no parking facilities for cars on site during the tournament.
But there is public transport: The stadium is connected to the transport network by bus, tram and commuter rail (S-Bahn). The journey from the city centre takes around half an hour.
If you do travel by car, there are car parks in the area, as well as so-called "park-and-ride" spaces near public transport hubs. These can be found at: mainziel.de. If you're on a bicycle, the trip from the fan mile to the stadium is about 20 minutes.
3. Pilgrimage points for die-hard football fans
First, of course, is the Frankfurter Arena. Inaugurated in 1925, the stadium was also the venue for World Cup matches in 1974 and 2006. Older locals may still remember the legendary "Water Battle of Frankfurt" a match carried out on an unplayable pitch after heavy rainfalls. On July 3, 1974 then-West Germany defeated Poland 1-0 on the Germans' way to winning the World Cup title.
While there will be no guided tours of the stadium during the Euro tournament, fans can take city walking tours to such spots as the shop of club founder Albert Pohlenk or the pub of Alfred Pfaff (member of Germany's 1954 World Cup championship team) at the Hauptwache. The visits are organised by the Eintracht Frankfurt Museum. Though it will be closed during the tournament, the museum will be represented with a small exhibition in the fan zone.
The Römerberg in Frankfurt's historic city centre is also a place of pilgrimage. The Römer - Frankfurt's town hall with its characteristic stepped gable façade - is home to the famous balcony from which national men's and women's football teams have celebrated on their return from successful tournaments.
And, of course, Frankfurt is the seat of the German Football Federation (DFB), whose campus was opened in 2022. The complex in the district of Niederrad will be open to the public for free tours during the tournament, providing fans a glimpse into the DFB's operations. Among others, visitors can see the athletes' dormitory, football fields and a large indoor football hall.
4. What else does Frankfurt have to offer besides football?
Frankfurt has lots to offer for anyone not (just) here for the football. It's the only city in Germany with a skyline of skyscrapers, the headquarters of the country's major banks as well as the European Central Bank. The most imposing edifice is the 200-metre-tall Maintower, popular with visitors for its viewing platform (€9 entrance).
Germany's financial metropolis surprises visitors with its wide variety of attractions, be they historical, cultural or scientific. Listing a few, there's the Church of St. Paul (Paulskirche) the seat of Germany's first democratically elected parliament in 1848. Another highlight is the Goethe Haus, the residence of the literary giant Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).
For those football fans who also may be interested in the arts, there are the Schirn museum of modern and contemporary art, the applied arts Museum für Angewandte Kunst, the Staedel Museum and the German Film Museum, all within walking distance of the fan zones.
For those keen on the natural sciences, a visit to the Senckenberg Museum with its huge collection of dinosaur fossils is a Frankfurt highlight, as is the 19-hectare botanical gardens, the Palmengarten, one of the largest in Europe - perhaps a good place to get some quiet summertime relaxation before the next football match.
