Season opener in the sports metropolis Berlin

With the European Football Championship, the third largest sporting event in the world, Berlin hosted an absolute highlight this summer in the sports metropolis of Berlin. The European Handball Championships, the 10th anniversary of Formula E and the Euroleague Final Four in basketball also attracted fans from all over the world to the capital. Berlin athletes won 15 medals at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris and next week tens of thousands will be running through the city centre in the 50th Berlin Marathon. The Mega sports year 2024 will go down in our memories - and it continues to go from strength to strength: Three teams from Berlin's professional clubs – Alba Berlin Women, BR Volleys and Eisbären Berlin – are going into their upcoming seasons as defending champions, and the other professional clubs have also set themselves ambitious sporting goals.

Reason enough for the sports metropolis Berlin to celebrate its kick-off to the upcoming season. The members of the sports metropolis initiative invited guests from the worlds of sport, politics, business and culture to the Olympiastadion Berlin to welcome and honour the Berlin Olympians. Together they discussed the topic “The sports metropolis as a benchmark: What does Berlin as host city take away from the Mega sports year 2024 and how can we implement learnings profitably for the future?” After the welcoming address by the Governing Mayor, Kai Wegner, Iris Spranger, Senator for the Interior and Sport, Dr. Stefan Franzke, Managing Director of Berlin Partner, Jürgen Lock, Managing Director of SCC Events, Lena Gohlisch, captain and German champion Alba Berlin, and Dirk Zingler, President of 1st FC Union Berlin, spoke about the lessons learnt from the Mega sports year 2024 and visions for the sports metropolis of Berlin. One topic that also characterised this evening was a possible bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games with Berlin as one of the host cities.

The start of the season in the sports metropolis Berlin illustrates the social and economic value of sport in Berlin and consolidates it at the highest political level. The aim is to bring the importance more strongly onto the political agenda and enable a dialogue between sport, business and politics.

The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner: “The UEFA EURO 2024 with the final in Berlin as well as the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris have impressively demonstrated this year that European metropolises are ideally suited for major sporting events. Berlin and Paris were outstanding hosts, the images of the European Football Championships and the Olympic Games went around the world. Berlin is a sports metropolis where young and old people, amateurs and professionals, recreational and elite athletes pursue their passion. Each and every day. I wish us and all the athletes a good start to an exciting and successful season.”

Iris Spranger, Senator for the Interior and Sport, says: “We are entering the final stretch of a great sporting year. The highlight was the UEFA EURO 2024 with the final and five other matches in Berlin. And now we are looking forward to the big anniversary of the Berlin Marathon, whose 50th anniversary we will be celebrating extensively in a few days. This sporting year shows once again that Berlin is capable of organising major international events. I am sure that the sports metropolis of Berlin is also ideally suited as a venue for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and will play a central role in a possible national application by the DOSB.”

Dr Stefan Franzke, CEO, Berlin Partner: “Sport is a key economic driver for Berlin. This year, as host of several major sporting events, the city has shown that we are a good host and pull together - politics, business, culture and sport together. The fact that sport is part of our DNA in the capital is also demonstrated by the founding story of Berlin Partner: an Olympic bid was the reason for this exactly 30 years ago. Sport moves and connects us, even today. 2023 was a record year in terms of the number of members in Berlin sports clubs. And every year the sports metropolis sets strong signs for solidarity, peace, equality, fairness and inclusion. We want to give these values ​​a lot of space in Berlin.”

Jürgen Lock, Managing Director of SCC Events: “Sport and exercise must remain at the centre of our society, especially in this super sporting year, which offers the third highlight with the 50th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. Sport unites, sport and exercise are part of our educational mission and make an extraordinary contribution to peaceful coexistence. We are all called upon to continue to live out this important task every day in the future, to get people active, to inspire them to exercise, to recognise achievements and to create international encounters such as major sporting events. This is the core of the sports metropolis Berlin. Let us take the positive aspects with us to shape the future.”

Lena Gohlisch, captain and German champion Alba Berlin: “Major events are important for Berlin as a sports city; they create emotions and bring people together. I would like to see more major women’s competitions take place here in the future. The anticipation for the 2026 Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin is already huge. How much women’s sport can inspire and attract large crowds can be seen week after week at our home matches.”

Dirk Zingler, President 1st FC Union Berlin: “Sport should bring people together instead of dividing them, and the Olympic Games in Berlin would be ideal for this. If we want it, then we must be clear: We don’t need nice words, rather good ideas and political creativity. Considering the infrastructure of our city and the conditions for both grassroots and elite sport, this will require a lot from us. But working together as a whole city towards a big objective can release enormous forces and create new identification.”

Dr Harry Bähr, Head of the Olympic Training Centre: “An enthusiastic audience, outstanding performances and great emotions - that was Paris 2024. With 82 participants in 19 Olympic and six Paralympic sports, Berlin was better represented than it has been for a long time. More than half of them return to the sporting metropolis with a place in the top eight. Like Team D as a whole, the Berlin athletes were able to inspire us. They have more than earned the varied support in the sports metropolis of Berlin. On the way to Los Angeles, however, we must increase our efforts – for young people who are prepared to pursue great goals with passion and, like Elena Semechin, achieve very special things. A look at the medal table makes it clear that establishing themselves among the world’s absolute best is becoming an ever greater challenge.”
 

Thomas Härtel, President of the Berlin State Sports Association: “Paris has shown how much the Olympic and Paralympic Games excite and inspire people. There are also many strong ideas in Germany and here in Berlin to achieve more for sport with the Games. With the experience from many major sporting events, the existing infrastructure, a wonderful audience and so many committed sportspeople, Berlin can organise very special games.”

About the sports city Berlin: With 781,259 memberships in Berlin’s sports clubs, the enthusiasm of its citizens for sport, the diversity of popular sport with its more than 2,400 clubs, the major international events, the professional clubs and more than 120 national lists as well as the traditional sporting events, it has a unique density and diversity of sport. The BMW Berlin Marathon, the ISTAF, the Six Days Berlin and the six professional clubs with their high-reach brands are beacons of the sports metropolis of Berlin that shine far beyond the borders of the capital. The sports metropolis is characterised by strong cooperation, great diversity and a quality that is unique.

About the Sports Metropolis Berlin Initiative: Staying at the top
The “Sports Metropolis Berlin Initiative” was founded in 2009 to ensure that Berlin remains a world-class city for elite sports. It markets the German capital nationally and internationally as THE metropolis for sports. In this cooperation, which is unique in Germany, the important decision-makers in Berlin’s sports and business sectors have joined forces: Berlin’s top clubs and largest sports venues, the Berlin Olympic Training Centre, the State Sports Association, the BMW Berlin Marathon, the ISTAF, the Berlin Six-Day Race, the Senate Department for the Interior and Sport, the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce, visitBerlin and Berlin Partner, who coordinate the Berlin Sports Metropolis initiative.

Supported by the co-operation with the Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin and the sports working group of the visitBerlin partner hotels, a joint communication platform has been created for top-class sport in Berlin.

The partners of the Sports Metropolis Berlin Initiative:

• Professional clubs: 1st FC Union Berlin, Alba Berlin, Berlin Recycling Volleys, Eisbären Berlin, Füchse Berlin, Hertha BSC
• Sports arenas: Max-Schmeling-Halle, Uber Arena, Olympiastadion Berlin,
  Stadion an der Alten Försterei, Velodrom
• Clubs & associations: Landessportbund Berlin e.V., Olympic Training Centre Berlin
• Sports organisers: Berliner Radsport Verband e.V. (Six Days), SCC Events (BMW Berlin-Marathon),Top Sportmarketing Berlin (ISTAF)
• Institutions: Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie, Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), Senate Department for Interior Affairs and Sport, visitBerlin   
   

More details at: www.berlin-sportmetropole.de