From 14 June to 14 July, Hamburg will be one of the ten host cities of UEFA EURO 2024. The Volksparkstadion will be the venue for five matches, the Fan Zone on Heiligengeistfeld invites people to watch the matches together and the EURO will also be accompanied by a multi-faceted programme of events beyond the stadium and Fan Zone. Since the beginning of the planning phase, sustainability has been one of the main topics of UEFA EURO 2024. The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg aims to set standards in terms of sustainability with the tournament and make it a reference for future major events in the city.
Fan Zone on Heiligengeistfeld
The Fan Zone with Public Viewing on Heiligengeistfeld is the central location of the EURO in Hamburg alongside the Volksparkstadion. Fans can watch the matches together, take part in a varied programme and enjoy the wide range of catering on offer. Together with the organisers, the City of Hamburg is implementing a range of measures to make the Fan Zone as sustainable as possible.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Following the principles of a circular economy, the amount of waste generated in the Fan Zone is reduced as much as possible, the materials used are utilised for as long as possible and visitors can dispose of any waste separately so that it can be recycled afterwards. To make this possible, drinks and food are only served in reusable dishes. This means that plastic bottles and disposable dishes are not used in the first place and cannot later become waste. Exceptions apply to food that does not require a plate and can be served directly on a napkin or in uncoated paper (e.g. chips cones and wraps). All those involved in the area as service providers are encouraged to use digital communication channels and to avoid flyers and brochures. Where printed materials cannot be avoided, they must be small-format and produced in an environmentally friendly way. Give-aways and gifts should be selected consciously and reduced and may only be handed out after prior registration with the organiser. This already greatly reduces the amount of waste generated. Any remaining waste can be disposed of separately at several recycling stations. Specially trained Green Volunteers provide support with questions about waste separation and reusability.
The sustainability criteria applicable to the Fan Zone, which cover the areas of catering, communication, procurement & waste, energy & climate and social aspects, can be viewed in the download section below.
Free drinking water + free sunscreen
Drinking water and sunscreen are available free of charge in the Fan Zone. This contributes to the health of visitors (heat and UV protection) and helps to avoid plastic bottles.
Sustainable and healthy food options
The Fan Zone offers a wide range of culinary options, including vegan and vegetarian dishes, of course. To strengthen fair trade, products such as coffee, tea and chocolate are only served with a fair trade label.
Meeting place
The Fan Zone at Heiligengeistfeld offers more than just football. It brings people together and is a place of discovery and encounter. The Football Arena - a mobile stadium with space for up to 820 spectators - hosts a variety of matches, including the Homeless EURO 2024, a street football tournament for homeless people that raises awareness about poverty, homelessness and sport, and an event organised by the DFB Foundation Sepp Herberger on the topics of football for the blind, deaf and amputees. In the Community Spot, various associations and institutions present themselves and provide information about their work.
Safeguarding concept (awareness concept)
Unfortunately, harassment occurs at major events time and again. In order to create an inclusive and respectful event environment and to raise awareness for equality, tolerance and mutual respect, a safeguarding concept (in German: awareness concept) is being implemented in the Fan Zone. Anyone who experiences boundary-crossing behaviour or observes and wishes to report such behaviour can scan one of 150 QR codes distributed in the Fan Zone and thus enter into a direct exchange with a professional awareness team supported by social responsibility volunteers.
External certification
The Fan Zone is undergoing the certification process for the Green Events Label in order to demonstrate what was already exemplary in the realisation of the Fan Zone and where there is still potential for improvement. To this end, the Hamburg-based Green Events network evaluates the implementation of the Fan Zone according to a total of 119 sustainability criteria and awards a basic, medium or premium label depending on its success. Based on the planning phase, the premium level is in prospect. This makes it easier for future events to use the EURO 2024 Fan Zone as a benchmark and to improve even further.
Volksparkstadion
The Volksparkstadion hosts four preliminary round matches and one quarter-final. UEFA is responsible for all measures in the stadium, including sustainability measures. Information on UEFA's sustainability efforts can be found here. The City of Hamburg is implementing measures in the area surrounding the stadium.
Modernisation of the surrounding S-Bahn stations
In order to make travelling to and from the Volksparkstadion even easier and to make the use of public transport as pleasant as possible, investments were made in the modernisation of the Eidelstedt and Stellingen S-Bahn stations near the stadium. The overall atmosphere, accessibility and passenger information have been improved.
Additional public toilets
Two modern, gender-neutral and barrier-free toilet facilities were built at the Eidelstedt and Stellingen S-Bahn stations to contribute to the cleanliness of the area and to the well-being of everyone travelling in the vicinity of the stadium. The facilities will also be permanently available after EURO 2024. In addition, temporary toilets are being provided in the vicinity of the stadium for the duration of the EURO.
Mobility
As with most events, travel to and from the event is the largest item in the EURO's carbon footprint. Air travel is particularly significant here. For this reason, a number of measures are being implemented to make the use of sustainable means of transport as attractive as possible.
Discounted train tickets
Fans who have purchased a ticket for a match at Hamburg's Volksparkstadion can use local public transport within the entire HVV area free of charge for 36 hours: from 6 a.m. on the day of the match until 6 p.m. the following day. The stadium ticket also enables you to purchase the DB Ticket EURO 2024, which allows you to travel within Germany by ICE train to the match venue for 29.90€. Deutsche Bahn also offers discounted Interrail tickets for those travelling from abroad.
Hamburg offers eco-friendly transport
The EURO 2024 venues in Hamburg can be reached in a sustainable way by public transport, bicycle and on foot. There will be no public parking available at the stadium, except for accessible parking, of course. To make riding your bike as attractive as possible, there will be separate bicycle parking spaces at both the stadium and the Fan Zone. Fans who don't have their own bike on hand, can hire a StadtRAD (bikesharing) or an electric scooter. Detailed information on mobility in Hamburg can be found in the UEFA Event Guide: Hamburg Travel and in the stadium travel guide.
Accessibility
A range of accessibility measures are being implemented to enable as many people as possible to participate in UEFA EURO 2024 in Hamburg, regardless of their abilities. Accessible parking is available at the stadium. The toilets at the Stellingen and Eidelstedt S-Bahn stations are barrier-free. At the info point in the fan zone, people with visual impairments can use a tactile map to get an overview of the event area. A wheelchair platform in the public viewing area offers people in wheelchairs a clear view of the screen. There is also a charging station for electric wheelchairs on the wheelchair platform. Barrier-free toilets are available in the fan zone and lowered counters have been installed in several places. An inclusion map provides an overview of the event area from an accessibility perspective.
Detailed information on accessibility in the city and at the stadium can be found in the UEFA Event Guide: Hamburg Accessibility. Detailed information on accessibility in the Fan Zone can be found on the Fan Zone page.
More than football in Hamburg
There is a lot to experience in Hamburg during UEFA EURO 2024 beyond the European Championship matches. A diverse schedule of events and acitivities carries the tournament into the city.
Ideas competition
As part of the ‘Hamburg, your EURO’ ideas competition, the city called on people in Hamburg to submit project ideas relating to diversity, tolerance and social cohesion. A jury selected 15 projects from all the submissions, which received a total of 500,000€ in funding from the city and the Alexander Otto Sports Foundation. These include a Homeless EURO 2024, in which teams consisting of homeless people from all over Europe compete against each other - with a final in the Fan Zone - and a campaign by the blind football section of FC St. Pauli, that allows Hamburg schoolchildren to experience what it is like to play football as a blind player. Some of the projects will culminate in the Fan Zone, bringing the topics covered to the attention of fans in a positive way. The list of winning projects can be viewed here, further information on the ideas competition can be found here.
Supporting programme
In addition to the 15 projects in the ideas competition, the EURO will be accompanied by numerous other events. These include the final of the world's largest street dance competition Juste Debout at Kampnagel and the Fan.Tastic Finals 2024 exhibition, which focuses on female football fan culture. Information can be found on the page of the Hamburg cultural programme and in the calendar of events on the Active City page.
Take action yourself!
Do you prefer to watch the EURO at home with your friends? You too can contribute to the sustainability of the tournament. The checklist ‘Your sustainable football festival’ points at the most impactful aspects that we can all consider when watching football from the comfort of our couch: From how to get your friends to your home, to good tableware options for when it gets crowded, to the most efficient way to keep the drinks cold. You can find more information on the interface of football and climate protection on the Green Team website (supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection).
Promoting long-term volunteer work
16,000 volunteers are involved throughout Germany to make EURO 2024 possible. In Hamburg, there were over 10,000 applications for the 1,600 volunteer positions. The City of Hamburg wants to make use of the great enthusiasm for volunteer work at the EURO to inspire the volunteers to remain active after the EURO. To this end, they can train to become referees and coaches free of charge through the Volunteer Academy, thus strengthening Hamburg's sports scene in the long term, and not just in football.
