EUROPEADA 2024: Friúl and Südtirol are the champions

The real winners of this event are the minorities – as FUEN Vice President Bahne Bahnsen put it at the awards ceremony following the women’s and the men’s finals of EUROPEADA 2024 in Flensburg on Saturday, 6 July.

But there were also winners on the football field, as Südtirol scored an astounding 11 goals to the one of Nordfraschlönj in the final of the women’s tournament, and, in a heated match, Friúl overcame Occitánia  by two goals to none in the men’s final.

Overall, the fifth edition of EUROPEADA, organised by the Federal Union of European Nationalities and hosted by the Danes in Germany, the Frisians, the Sinti and Roma in Schleswig-Holstein and the Germans in Denmark proved to be a very successful event, with a record number of teams (24 men’s, 9 women’s), 900 players and 14 venues in the Danish-German border region.

"Overall, I am very satisfied. I was particularly pleased that all the teams across the board said that they felt very comfortable with the clubs and in the accommodation and were in good hands with the volunteers. The great interest shown by spectators was also very pleasing. We were very well received by the local minority population. The sporting standard was good, and this time the women's tournament, which was bigger than ever before with nine teams, deserves special mention. It was also a very successful EUROPEADA in terms of media coverage; we attracted a lot of attention. The opening and the cultural day went very well, but the cultural aspect should perhaps be emphasised even more in the future" – says EUROPEADA 2024 Project Manager Ruwen Müller after the finals.

"In my view, EUROPEADA 2024 is a great success. We are seeing that the popularity and attention are growing. Interest in minorities is growing thanks to EUROPEADA. With our joint event, we were able to get the message out that four minorities work well together here. I hope that this can also be an example for other minorities. On the other hand, you can feel here on site that interest in other minorities in Europe is also growing. I am very pleased about that", adds Gösta Toft, Vice President of FUEN.

Dear friends of EUROPEADA, see you in four years!