They came in their tens of thousands, under the watchful eye of the summer sun. They crammed into the silver sausages of Cologne’s trams, they formed a flotilla of Lime e‑scooters. They wobbled on hire bikes, they walked, they wound the windows down on their Ubers and sang of Phil Foden. This was England, travelling England, just don’t think too much about the football.
After 10 days of rain and sub‑par performances, this felt like the moment everyone had been waiting for: the temperature 30C in a big city with highways and parks and lots of restaurants and bars and even more kiosks where you can load up on random brands of German beer and keep the party going.
Estimates suggested there were between 30,000 and 40,000 England supporters in town for the game, and it felt like it. Perhaps inevitably this was a more diverse group of fans than those who plodded through Gelsenkirchen; more diverse ethnically and by gender, but also by class and age.
There were young families and retired couples, people with their stomachs covered in tattoos and people wearing chinos. There were even a fair few Germans decked out in England kit, apparently unself-consciously; the more, the merrier.
The beauty of Cologne Stadium is that it has a park right outside it, or at least a series of empty training pitches, and from as long as four hours before kick-off people were sitting on the grass, taking a breather and letting the world pass by for a moment.
For those who hadn’t taken the advice offered by supporters’ groups that the tram system might creak a little under high demand there was still the Heumarkt, the central square that had been designated the main drinking – and kicking footballs high up in the air – zone.
Standing on the edge of the square were Ilan and Mark, from London and veterans of previous England tours. For Ilan the football was more important, for Mark it was the experience. “It’s about seeing so many people from so many different countries coming together, no trouble, and everyone having fun,” he said, albeit without a smile.
He didn’t like the German bombers chant that persists with a portion of the travelling support, and wasn’t a fan of Gareth Southgate’s brand of England either, but still believed “we’ll go deep” in the tournament. Ilan was more positive. “We’re building, we’ve started to learn, we’ll get there hopefully,” he said.
England fans don’t think monolithically, even if the behaviour of the crowd, like the boos that rang around the stadium at full time after another poor performance, define the common perception of how they feel. Neither are they people who think only about football.
A block further away from the square, relaxing in the shade of some venerable sycamore trees, were four young friends from south London – Frank, Harry, Jack and Fred – out on their second trip with England. “Last time we slept in cars and stuff, this time we’re in a hostel, so it’s easier,” Frank said. Fred said: “Germany’s just unreal for getting beers and meeting people and moving about.” Jack said: “I think we’ve been on about 15 trains and not even one of them’s been on time. It puts Southern Rail in the tip top tier.”
For these friends the trip is like a festival, a chance to be with each other, to let loose, to take in new experience, with the game the common thread. “We’re all bonded by football,” is how Harry describes it. And for four young men they had a pretty rounded perspective on where their team are right now.
“We were saying the other day,” Harry said, “in previous tournaments we maybe overperformed what we thought was going to happen. In 2018 and 2020, we didn’t expect to be doing as well and therefore everything was like a win.
“Now, having got so far in the last three tournaments, we’re back to maybe where we were 15 years ago, thinking we should be winning everything. The pressure’s getting to them once again.”
