Season opener in the sports metropolis Berlin
Berlin, 19 September 2024 – What a sporting achievement - Berlin will experience a top-class sporting year in 2024! The capital has already proven itself as a powerful host of the Men’s EHF EURO (Handball), the UEFA EURO 2024 (football) - which is after all, the third largest sporting event in the world - the 10th anniversary of Formula E and the Final Four of the Euroleague (basketball). As the organiser of the 50th Berlin Marathon and home to numerous Olympians and a number of Bundesliga teams, including the Alba Berlin women’s team, the BR Volleys and the Eisbären Berlin, the current defending champions, Berlin is more sporty than ever. Pretty good reasons for the Sports metropolis Berlin initiative to celebrate the start of the upcoming season.
The initiative invited guests to the time-honoured Berlin Olympic Stadium. Together with guests from the fields of sport, politics, business and culture, the members welcomed the Berlin Olympians and exchanged ideas on the topic “The sports metropolis as a benchmark: What will Berlin take away as host from the mega sports year 2024 and how can we profitably implement the things learned for the future?” After the welcoming address by Governing Mayor Kai Wegner, guest speakers such as Franziska Becker, State Secretary for Sport, Dr. Stefan Franzke, Managing Director of Berlin Partner, and Lena Gohlisch, captain and German champion Alba Berlin, summarised the lessons learned from the mega sports year 2024 and explained their visions for the future of Berlin as a sports metropolis.
The possible application to be one of the host cities for the 2040 Olympic and Paralympic Games also shaped the evening – and brought back memories for Berlin Partner. Dr. Stefan Franzke explains: “The fact that sport is part of our DNA in the capital is also shown by the founding history of Berlin Partner: an Olympic bid was the reason for this exactly 30 years ago.” And so not only the sports-loving citizens of Berlin, but also the Berlin Partner team are keeping their fingers crossed for their city.
About the Sports Metropolis Initiative
The Sports metropolis Berlin initiative was founded in 2009 and markets the city nationally and internationally as THE metropolis for sport. Important stakeholders from the fields of sport and business are involved in this co-operation, which is unique in Germany. These include Berlin’s top clubs and the largest sports venues, the Berlin Olympic Training Centre, the Berlin State Sports Association, the BMW Berlin Marathon, the ISTAF, the Berlin Six-Day Race, the Senate Department for the Interior, Digitisation and Sport as well as the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce, visitBerlin and Berlin Partner. The initiative also co-operates with the Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin and the sports working group of the visitBerlin partner hotels, thus offering top-class sport in Berlin a joint communication platform.
