U-turn!

But public viewing for the European Football Championships in Mozart’s city

There was a public viewing in Salzburg's Volksgarten during the 2017 European Women's Football Championships.(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

For a long time, it looked as if Salzburg would be the only provincial capital without a public viewing event for the 2024 European Football Championships in Germany. Mayor Harald Preuner had clearly spoken out against it. On Tuesday, however, there was a U-turn. Fans can hope again.  

The disappointment was great. Only recently, Mayor Harald Preuner had spoken out clearly against public viewing in the city of Salzburg on the occasion of the European Football Championships in Germany. The Sternenkino cinema on Kapitelplatz had offered to show the matches of the major event in the neighboring country. However, the government under the outgoing ÖVP politician refused. 

Did not want public viewing in the city: still mayor Harald Preuner.(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

Costs of 50,000 euros would have been incurred by the city. "It can't go so far that every public viewing is sponsored by private companies with taxpayers' money," Preuner was quoted as saying in a report by ORF. In addition, according to Preuner, bad experiences were made at Residenzplatz during the 2008 European Championships. Until recently, Salzburg was the only (!) provincial capital in Austria that did not organize a fan zone. 

"Checking options"
Before the good news for fans of the round leather arrived on Tuesday morning, there was a U-turn! The designated city government under soon-to-be mayor Bernhard Auinger (SPÖ) spoke out clearly in favor of a public broadcast of the Austrian national team's matches in the city. "We want to examine various options for a creative solution by the beginning of next week to see whether a small but high-quality fan zone would be possible."