European Men's Football Championship Cultural Run-Up to UEFA Euro 2024

Before the first UEFA Euro 2024 match in Hamburg on Sunday, June 16, the city will present a rich cultural programme to get people in the mood for the European Men's Football Championship. Many cultural organisers have created projects addressing football in different ways: a football opera, urban art, street dance, exhibitions and concerts – Hamburg will show the links between culture and sport wiht national and international productions. The majority of events will take place prior to the European Championship in May and June, but several projects will extend into the tournament.

Combining Electronic Music and Football

On 12 May, British artist Matthew Herbert will present a musical link between football and culture. Herbert, who is regarded as one of the world’s most innovative composers and electronic artists, has developed a new piece for the project THE GAME – a cooperation between the Reeperbahn Festival and local football club FC St Pauli. 

Matthew Herbert has created an exciting artistic connection between the dramaturgy of a football match and the creative process of a musical composition. To this end, a live concert and a football match will be linked in real-time: the game between FC St Pauli and VfL Osnabrück on 12 May at Hamburg’s Millerntor stadium will serve as a template for a 'game' between the renowned string orchestra Ensemble Resonanz and Matthew Herbert’s electronic band at the nearby Laeiszhalle concert hall. 

Led by conductor Friederike Scheunchen, who will follow the game live on a monitor, the music will change between the band and the ensemble whenever the ball is passed between the teams in the stadium. Standard situations, such as throw-ins, free kicks, and corner kicks, will be rendered through recurring sound images composed by Matthew Herbert, while the remainder of the match will develop from the dynamics on the pitch. The live concert is to take place in the immediate vicinity of the Millerntor stadium.

See here for more information.

A Football Opera in Hamburg

The Opernloft in the district of Altona will take another musical perspective on football: 31 May will see the premiere of the Football Opera, with additional performances to follow. Young singers will transform the Opernloft at the Alter Fährterminal docks into a stadium, with an engaging mix of fan chants and passionate opera arias. Director Inken Rahardt has created an exciting piece full of energy and drama, with a scheduled duration of exactly 90 minutes.

See here for more information.

Football Meets Art

JUSTE DEBOUT at Kampnagel

Meanwhile, JUSTE DEBOUT will last longer than 90 minutes: on the occasion of the European Championship and supported by FC St Pauli, the International Centre for Fine Arts at Kampnagel will bring the world’s most important street dance battle from Paris to Hamburg. The finals will take place on 1 June at Alsterdorfer Sporthalle. Just like in football, the teams will compete against each other. 140 international dancers are coming to Hamburg to join the event. In the context of the JUSTE DEBOUT finals, Kampnagel will also host its first Hip-Hop Dance Week at Kampnagel from 28 May to 2 June – with even more hip-hop battles, workshops, expert talks and much more.

See here for more information.

With Football Moves People, the Kampnagel team has put together a one-year programme with a focus on football, including a number of events supported by FC St. Pauli. Football Echoes, for instance, combines football movements with street dance, a style that is also known as Klapping (premiere: 30 May at Kampnagel). A preview of the show was held on 14 April outside the Millerntor stadium. 

As part of the Mosaik FC project, Anas Aboura, curator at the Migrantpolitan art space, will hold a training session for commentators in different languages, alongside interviews with activists, fans and football stakeholders. Topics will include e.g. football culture, as well as racism and inclusion. And the Hools of Fashion collective have designed a football line that takes a critical look at fan and football culture and proposes utopian counter-designs: merchandise and attire for the intersectional, diverse teams of the future and their fans. Their fashion will be presented at Kampnagel (Live Art Festival, 5 to 15 June) as well as during the Millerntor Gallery festival (31 May to 2 June).

For more information, see the Kampnagel homepage.

11 Walls | 11 Goals Across Germany

The FC St Pauli football club also partners with 11 Walls | 11 Goals, a project of Viva con Agua ARTS. In the context of this project, 14 artists will be adorning eleven walls in the ten German Euro 2024 host cities with murals. Each mural will be the individual expression of a social goal for Europe to which the artists have dedicated themselves. In addition, there will be ten concerts to accompany the visual street art. Two of these murals will be painted in Hamburg: one at the Millerntor stadium, so the mural there will also be part of this year's Millerntor Gallery. The grand closing evening of 11 Walls | 11 Goals will take place on 30 May at the Millerntor stadium, with live concerts and much more.

See here for more information.

Street Art Meets Football
With the catchphrase 'Get a kick out of it', the international street art festival STAMP will present three different projects between 7 and 9 June. The festival will open on 7 June with the hip-hop production Bounce the Ball by professional dancers on Platz der Republik square, which will include projections revolving around diversity in football. The Dream up project will take place on 8 and 9 June in public spaces and comprises 24 artistic goal stagings at different locations in Hamburg, which will be linked up through guided tours. And on 8 June, the You'll never walk alone night parade with local, national and international groups will take place in Altona. The 24 countries taking part in this year’s European Championship will be visualised through 24 spheres of light in the respective national colours.

See here for more information.

'United by Football' in Exhibitions and Schools

The Football Supporters Europe association, which is based in Hamburg, presents the exhibition Fan.Tastic.Finals 2024, which will address female national fan culture in Europe through the medium of video portraits. The travelling exhibition will be shown in all of Germany’s host cities; in Hamburg it can be seen from 6 to 8 July in the Teehaus of the Planten un Blomen park.

See here for more information.

More Projects Around Euro 2024

The Foundation of Hamburg Memorials and Learning Centres Commemorating the Victims of Nazi Crimes (SHGL) is currently presenting a cultural remembrance project funded by the DFB Cultural Foundation. Football has a far-reaching history in Hamburg. Under the title Hamburg Football under National Socialism, the SHGL has put together a highly diverse support programme that includes e.g. an exhibition and guided tours with a focus on the historical dimensions of football, and football in the Nazi era in particular.

See here for more information.

On the occasion of the European Football Championship, the Hamburg Transport Association (hvv) will present its Ode to Hamburg – a city anthem intended to symbolise social diversity and acceptance and that combines the spirit of football with the pulse of the city. Selected newcomer artists will  perform the piece from mid-June at three pop-up concerts at popular locations in Hamburg. Further information will be released shortly via the hvv passenger screens and on the hvv’s Instagram channel (@hvv_undwasbewegtdich).

For more information, see the hvv website.

Meanwhile, the BallinStadt Emigration Museum will dedicate a special exhibition to the topic of football and migration. From 7 May to 1 September, the exhibition will explore key questions such as the following: How has the visibility of professional players with migration history evolved over the decades? Other topics include internationality and globalisation as well as forms of racism that continue to exist in today’s football world.

See here for more information.

All Cultural Events Around Euro 2024