Successful stadium festival as part of EURO 2024

The 2024 European elections are just around the corner; for the first time, young people are allowed to vote at the age of 16. But what does Europe actually stand for, who belongs to Europe and what can it do? These are just a few questions that many young people are now faced with. As part of the “Stadion Europa Youth Festival”, schoolchildren had the opportunity to find out about all the different topics. The aim was to inspire those present for a democratic and diverse Europe.

In the morning, groups of students took part in numerous closed workshops on European topics. The workshops covered, among other things, the following topics: participation and European elections, sustainability, gender equality in football, human rights and wishes for Europe. The interactive design allowed the students to get involved and share their thoughts about the various subject areas.

After a lunch break, the festival area was opened free of charge to all young people from Darmstadt and the surrounding area. The afternoon was introduced by Mayor Barbara Akdeniz and Bernard Gutowski, Managing Director of the Football and Culture EURO 2024 gGmbH Foundation. On the stadium grounds, everyone present found interactive information stands from civil society about Europe, a human table football, a creative workshop, stadium tours, an SVD raffle and an exhibition on anti-discrimination. The appropriate musical accompaniment was also there, there was live music from young bands from Darmstadt as part of the “European Song Contest”.

But that wasn’t the end of the stadium festival at the Bölle. In the evening there was a panel discussion on the topic of “Cosmopolitan Darmstadt?” From various perspectives from politics, sport, education and civil society, it was discussed how the social division influences social cohesion in Darmstadt and what measures can be taken. to promote integration and inclusion. Barbara Akdeniz (Mayor of the City of Darmstadt), Birger Schmidt (Managing Director of Lernort Stadion e.V.), Dr. Carolin Rüger (European researcher at the University of Würzburg) and Markus Pfitzner (Vice President of SV Darmstadt 98 e.V.). Colin Mahnke (stadium moderator of SV Darmstadt 98) led an open discussion peppered with many interesting approaches.

The Lilies would like to thank all the initiators and participants of the stadium festival and are pleased to have welcomed over 300 young people to the Merck Stadium at the Böllenfalltor.