Euro 2024: Pavard calls to vote, light beers sold to the English, a Dutchman gets married in a flash… behind the scenes of the Euro

Les bières habituelles, dont le volume d’alcool se situe entre 4 et 5 % ont été bannies de la vente. MAXPPP – Roman BABIRAD/FAMOUS

Alors que l'Euro débute ce vendredi soir avec Allemagne-Ecosse, découvrez les coulisses de la compétition. 

So, Euro ? The little stories that forge the legend

Pavard and Giroud call on the French to vote

"We all have to go vote", asked France team defender Benjamin Pavard on Friday regarding the early legislative elections of June 30 and July 7, during Euro-2024. "If I have one piece of advice to give to the French it’s to go and vote, an abstention rate of almost 50 % ( to the Europeans), this is not normal", added scorer Olivier Giroud

The day before, striker Ousmane Dembélé and defender Ferland Mendy had also encouraged the French to vote. The French Football Federation, for its part, is in the process of establishing proxies for the players and management of the French team at the Düsseldorf consulate, some two hours' drive from Paderborn.

Netherlands: he gets married "in a flash" on his only day off

Netherlands defender Matthijs de Ligt took advantage of the only day off given to Dutch players before the Euros to marry his fiancée AnneKee Molenaar last week, the agency reported ANP press release Friday.

The 24-year-old Bayern central defender married the young model and influencer in his village of Broek, north of Amsterdam, the day after the warm-up match against Canada (4-0 victory) at the Kuip in Rotterdam on June 6. “With our busy schedule and depending on our progress at the Euro, this is the only day I was sure I would be free“, said De Ligt, who therefore got married “in a flash”.

“Light” beers (2.5%) for Serbia-England fans

For the match considered high-risk between England and Serbia, scheduled for Sunday in the first round of Euro 2024, supporters of both teams will only be able to buy beer with a reduced alcohol content, police announced on Friday.

A "light beer" 2.5% will be served in the stadium, with supporters limited to two drinks at a time, said a police spokeswoman in Gelsenkirchen, in western Germany.

The usual beers, whose alcohol volume is between 4 and 5%, have been banned from sale, a measure taken for & quot;security reasons", said the spokesperson, adding that the British "are used to it".

Shevchenko does not forget the war

Ukraine’s presence at the Euro is in itself a victory against adversity according to Andriy Shevchenko and "will remind the world what we are going through", said Ukrainian football legend, Ballon d’or in 2004.

Three years ago, during the previous Euro, the Zbirna ("the selection"), the team of which Shevchenko was then the coach, went as far as quarter-finals, England exited with a scathing 4-0.

This time, Shevchenko, 47, is no longer a coach but president of the Ukrainian Football Federation and experiences the immense dismay and acute anxiety of the players, marked by the conflict triggered in February 2022 by the Russian invasion of their country.