Steffi Jones visited Cidade do Futebol and was impressed with the facilities; she recalled that Portugal will play in her hometown, Gelsenkirchen, and praised the quality of Portuguese football
This Monday morning, the City of Football received a visit from a delegation of senior German officials, including those responsible for organizing Euro 2024 and German ambassadors in Portugal.
The delegation included Julia Monar, German ambassador to Portugal, Annett Chojnacki-Bennemann, official for international affairs for the German government, Jakob Jurczyk-Bäumer, and Wenzel Voss, both linked to the German embassy in Lisbon, and Tim Steinhaus, director of operations for Euro Hospitality Experience services at Euro 2024, in Germany.
The most media presence was that of Steffi Jones, football ambassador for Euro 2024 and former German international, who like her compatriots attended the announcement of Portugal’s squad for the first two rounds of the qualifying phase for the women’s Euro 2025 .
The national coach dispelled doubts about the aptitude of the forward, who is called up by Portugal for the games against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Malta; assured that he maintained regular contact with Benfica and spoke with Filipa Patão
At the end, Steffi Jones answered questions from the press present, in front of which she expressed her desire for the Euro 2024 final to be played between Germany and Portugal. «There will be a lot of emotions, a lot of people traveling to Germany. The Portuguese team will probably reach the final and, hopefully, Germany too. This is the final I would expect…», admits the former footballer.
Jones also expressed his pleasure at having the Portuguese team playing in Gelsenkirchen, his hometown… and where Portuguese football was once very happy: it was in that city that FC Porto won the 2003 Champions League/ 2004 and where Portugal defeated Mexico, in the group stage of the 2006 World Cup.
«Portugal will play in my hometown, Gelsenkirchen! It’s a great stadium, I promise it will be a great atmosphere, so come! We won’t have new stadiums, we don’t need new stadiums, we have great stadiums and we’re going to use these infrastructures”, declared the former Germany international and former national coach for Germany.
Steffi Jones also praised Cidade do Futebol and the conditions it faced. «Portugal is a great model to follow. You have everything here, even a futsal pavilion that is about to arrive”, he praised.
The Euro 2024 ambassador was impressed by Portugal’s sporting and competitive capacity, given its territorial and demographic size. «We (ed: Germany) have more than 6 million players and what you have, considering your size, is excellent! They have the men’s team in 7th place in the world rankings and the women’s team in 21st, it’s phenomenal”, praised the 51-year-old former footballer and coach.
