BERLIN (CN) — German cities become unrecognizable during soccer tournaments. Convenience stores, restaurants and beer gardens are converted into makeshift sports bars. TVs and projectors are set up overnight and crowds spill into the streets. This effect has only been more intense with Germany hosting the European Championships.
Shops and apartments become miniature embassies, proudly flying a colorful array of flags from participating nations. Amateur census takers need only open their windows during a match and listen for loud celebrations echoing across courtyards to get an idea of where their neighbors are from. However, in many cases, ripping fireworks and blazing car horns ensure opening the window would be a waste of time.
And though many of tournament's roughly 2.5 million ticket holders have flocked to Germany from surrounding countries, a significant element of participating teams' support is comprised of Germany's sizeable immigrant population. The Euros soccer spectacle hasn't just showcased some fantastic games — its brought Germany's diversity to the fore.
Nearly 30% of the German population, 24.9 million people, are immigrants or have at least one immigrant parent. Sixty percent of this group have roots in other European countries, meaning plenty of Germans have connections to fellow Euro 2024 competitors. Deciding just who to support isn't always easy.
"Croatia and Germany, I've got two hearts beating in my chest," Croatian-German Hrvoje — Harri to his German friends — told Courthouse News.
"My parents are from Croatia, I was born and raised here. It isn't an easy question to answer," he said.
Hrvoje runs a Croatian restaurant in Berlin's sleepy Reinickendorf district with his cousin. The restaurant was overflowing with Croatian fans during their match against Albania. And though hosting throngs of fellow fans likely brought in a pretty penny, Hrvoje elected to close shop when Croatia played in Berlin so he could be one of the 40,000 Croatians in Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
"It wasn't a tough call. You only live once, and in the end it's just money. Germany doesn't host the Euros all the time. I've got lots of family throughout Germany, and they came up to Berlin for the game, from Hesse to Bavaria," he said.
The 435,000 Croatians living in Germany could nearly fill all ten Euro 2024 host stadiums. Much of the country's Croatian population, including Hrvoje's parents, initially put their roots down here in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as waves of guest workers from Yugoslavia were part of a broader group of temporary workers from around the world brought in to make up for Germany's postwar labor shortage.
Guest workers fueled a powerful German economy, and many of them built lives here and stayed. A later wave of Croatians, as well as large groups of refugees from other Balkan countries, arrived in Germany during the mid-90s due to the Yugoslav wars.
Germany's widespread immigrant community has also benefited fans from neighboring countries that have traveled to the Euros.
"I've got family near Mannheim and I have friends living in Hamburg. I got to stay with them at our first game," Polish fan Peter told Courthouse News. Peter had made the six hour train journey from Warsaw to Berlin with friends for Poland's second game of the tournament.
With nearly 1 million Poles living in Germany, Peter likely wasn't the only one crashing with friends during the Euros. He and his friends figured that Berlin's sizeable Polish population would lend the side an advantage. "I think we'll probably have at least 60% of the crowd," he said.
One team at Euro 2024 never had to do any estimating about whether it will dominate in the stands: Turkey.
The biggest group of postwar guest workers — 876,000 — came from Turkey. Turks continue to comprise Germany's biggest immigrant population, with 2.9 million people living in the country being either Turkish immigrants or having Turkish roots. Given Turkey's soccer obsession, it's little surprise that this community has a powerful impact on the game.
Germany's captain, midfielder İlkay Gündoğan, is the grandson of a Turkish guest worker. And of the 15 players born in Germany and representing other teams at the Euros, five — more than in any other squad — are playing for Turkey.
Turkey's first two matches were in Dortmund — a working class city in the heart of North Rhine-Westphalia, the state that was once Germany's industrial powerhouse and remains home to the biggest Turkish population in the country. Unsurprisingly, the crowd at these matches were overwhelmingly in Turkey's favor.
"I'd say we're basically the second host nation. No one can argue with that based on the atmosphere," Kaan Ayhan told German public broadcaster ARD after Turkey's opening match. Ayhan represents Turkey but was born and raised a 30 minute train ride away from Dortmund.
"It's a home tournament for Turkey for sure," a group of young men in Turkey jerseys told Courthouse News. They were sitting at a packed cafe in Berlin's heavily Turkish neighborhood of Wedding, preparing to watch a game. The cafe had been decked out in crescent moon flags and a large TV was set up outside in anticipation for the match.
Despite agreeing on Turkey's home-like support, the fans had significantly more trouble finding consensus on who'd they support if Turkey were to play Germany. Thankfully for them, Germany and Turkey are on opposite sides of the knockout round's bracket, so the only way they — and the roughly 1.5 million Turkish Germans — will be forced into making a decision is if both teams make the final.
And if that admittedly unlikely scenario comes to fruition, the support in the stands will settle the debate on who the real host nation is.
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