Germany head coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg believes the country’s rivalry with England “electrifies football fans” and she would have chosen to play the Lionesses over any other team in the final of Euro 2022.
England and Germany will meet in the final at Wembley on Sunday afternoon, with the Lionesses looking to win their first major trophy in women’s football.
Voss-Tecklenburg is excited for the showdown, describing the clash as being a “football feast”.
The match is expected due draw huge audiences, both in England and Germany, and as a result, Voss-Tecklenburg has claimed the Lionesses are the side she wanted to play at Wembley.
“It electrifies football fans. It has such a traditional history. It’s a football feast,” she said.
“This is just one football. I don’t differentiate between men and women. There will be millions of spectators in the whole of Europe, so if we had been allowed to dream we would have chosen to play against England in this final and not anybody else.
“We have a dreamt of this. I don’t know if there are a lot of bigger sporting moments for our players. We really want to stay present and just embrace everything.
“The pressure is actually on England tomorrow I believe. There is more pressure on them than us.”
Voss-Tecklenburg wants to win on Sunday, and guide Germany to their ninth European Championship, but she believes the final is also a vital chance for the women’s game to grow.
“This should give us strength,” she said. “We have won a lot. We will only win if everything that happens on a sustainable level.
“[In Germany], we want more equality of talent, better stadiums, we want to get more spectators, we want more TV time, different kick-off times. We want a more attractive league.
“We just want to make the next steps and I hope that the sport in general will just have a bigger present in schools but also in politics.”
