“Stinker Raclette” and heartbreak – the first days of the European Championship are hot

Retro is king! After the German national team chose "Major Tom (völlig losgelöst)" from 1982 as the 2022 European Championship anthem, Wolfgang Petry took advantage of a visit to the women's training camp to re-record his hit "Verlieben, verloren, vergessen, verzeih'n" (Falling in love, lost, forgotten, forgive). The song's sing-along potential is good, all right. But a football anthem with the word "verlieren" (losing) in the title and heartbreak as its theme? That might be a first. The players don't mind. Striker Laura Freigang called the experience a "fever dream of the best kind." (eva.)

The mood must have been strange: On Friday, Denmark played against Sweden, which meant two fiancés were competing against each other. Pernille Harder, Danish captain, and Magdalena Eriksson, Swedish defender, are a couple and both play for FC Bayern. The match didn't actually take place: Eriksson remained on the bench. She was happy nonetheless: Sweden won 1-0. Harder had worked tirelessly on the field to equalize – to no avail. At least she didn't have to pay off any betting debts afterward. After her team lost to Sweden in the Nations League, she was also responsible for washing the dishes. (cen.)

Anyone thinking about women's football at the Wankdorf on Thursday might not be able to interpret the onslaught. Older men purposefully appear in the media room before the Spain-Portugal match, and the escort takes positions in front of the television cameras. Dignitaries from Portugal, they say. Solemn expressions. A heaviness hangs in the air. For whatever reason. Only when the 30,000-seat stadium observes a minute's silence for Diogo Jota, who died in a car accident, does it dawn on them. He was Portuguese, played for Liverpool FC. And he was a national player. (bir. )

We finally know: Switzerland is expensive. Price watchdogs from the German newspaper "Bild" have discovered that "wine gouging" is rampant in the fan zone on Zurich's Europaallee. A glass of red wine costs 17 euros, a "stinky raclette" costs the equivalent of 22 euros, and a mug of beer costs 7 euros. Oops! That's steep, even for natives. So, a tip among friends: Nobody actually frequents Europaallee voluntarily; we know a few places with normal prices. And "stinky raclette"? In these temperatures?! Our own fault. (ram.)

An article from the « NZZ am Sonntag »