Bayern home renaming caught in UEFA clauses!

Article posted by Coliseum, January 15^th, 2024

Image: Allianz Arena

Discussions are on between the EURO 2024 organizers and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) on renaming the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, after the German soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer for the four-week period of the EURO 2024 tournament.

‘Bild’ stated that so far it is only a plan still being discussed by the above authorities.

The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA EURO 2024 or simply EURO 2024, will be the 17^th edition of the UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organized by the UEFA for the men’s national teams of its member-associations. It will be hosted by Germany and will be held from June 14^th-July 14^th, 2024.

Nyon (Switzerland)-based the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach football in Europe and the transcontinental countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan, as well as some Asian countries such as Israel, Cyprus and Armenia. The UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Since 2022, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the FIFA and the UEFA has suspended all Russian national teams and clubs from any FIFA and UEFA competitions.

The Allianz Arena is a football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, with a 70,000 seating capacity for international matches and 75,000 for domestic matches. Widely known for its exterior of inflated ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) plastic panels, it is the first stadium in the world with a full color changing exterior. It is the home of the Bundesliga giants FC Bayern Munich.

Franz Beckenbauer (1945-2024) was a German footballer, manager and official. He was nicknamed ‘der Kaiser’ (‘the Emperor’). Beckenbauer is considered one of the greatest players in football history. He is one of only three people to win the World Cup as both a player and a coach, captaining the West Germany team in 1974 and managing them to victory in 1990. He also won the European Championship with West Germany in 1972.

‘Bild’ further stated that Germany opens the European Championships on June 14^th against Scotland and if things go as per the above plan the opening fixture would be held in Munich’s Franz Beckenbauer Stadium as an ode to the soccer giant for the four weeks of the soccer extravaganza.

A clear picture has still not emerged whether the stadium will be renamed after Beckenbauer but one thing is crystal clear – during EURO 2024 the stadium will anyway have to be renamed because the UEFA does not allow stadia to be named after sponsors while UEFA– organized soccer matches are underway. Presently, only the 74,475-capacity Olympiastadion Berlin in Berlin and the 57,000-capacity Volksparkstadion in Hamburg in Germany are not named after sponsors.

Fans are thrilled and majority of them want the Allianz Arena to be renamed as the Franz Beckenbauer Stadium.

Though the UEFA has taken note of this huge ‘Yes’ from fans, nevertheless, renaming the Allianz Arena during the four-week tournament is not such an easy task as the UEFA does not allow sponsor names and the plan remains difficult to implement as the preparation and pre-production have been ongoing for months as regards the facility to be known as the ‘Munich Football Arena’ or ‘Football Arena Munich’ during the EURO 2024 tournament.

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