The Allianz Arena is one of ten venues that are part of the German FA's (DFB) bid to host the 2024 European championship. On Friday the DFB committee announced the final candidate venues picked from a 14-stadium shortlist. Besides the Allianz Arena, wholly owned by FC Bayern München AG, the application includes Berlin's Olympic Stadium, Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park, Düsseldorf's ESPRIT Arena, Frankfurt am Main's Commerzbank Arena, Gelsenkirchen's VELTINS Arena, Hamburg's Volksparkstadion, Cologne's RheinEnergieSTADION, Leipzig's Red Bull Arena and Stuttgart's Mercedes Benz Arena.
FC Bayern München AG chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said after the announcement: "We're pleased the Allianz Arena is part of the DFB's bid for hosting EURO 2024. If the DFB is chosen the fans have reason to look forward to more great matches at FC Bayern's stadium."
Allianz Arena München Stadion GmbH CEO Jürgen Muth was pleased too: "Of course the DFB's decision in favour of the Allianz Arena is an honour for us. We gladly accept this great task, and we proved during the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2012 UEFA Champions League final we have ideal conditions for staging major events like this. The Allianz Arena will be the only German venue for the UEFA EURO 2020, four years before EURO 2024, and the preparations are in full swing."
As Germany's most modern stadium the Allianz Arena has been chosen to host three group matches and one quarter-final of EURO 2020. If the bid for EURO 2024 is successful the Allianz Arena would be the first venue for two successive European championships. The Allianz Arena underwent a major refit in the summer of 2017 to continue to meet the highest standards demanded of an ultra-modern football stadium. Besides the largest video walls of any European football stadium, premium floodlights have been installed so that the Allianz Arena continues to meet UEFA's highest standard, Elite A. "Technologically the Allianz Arena is state of the art throughout Europe," commented Jürgen Muth.
The DFB has to submit the complete application documents to European football's governing body UEFA by 27 April 2018. Until then the DFB will devise the best possible plan in close collaboration with the ten candidate venues, seeking to convince UEFA to select Germany as hosts of a European championship for the second time after 1988. The final decision on the hosting country will be made in September 2018. The DFB's only competitor is the Turkish FA.
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