Germany could handle 2024 Olympics, European Championship

Berlin: Germany can handle hosting the 2024 Olympics and the European soccer tournament that year if the country is awarded both events it is bidding for, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) said on Tuesday.

Hamburg was given the nod over Berlin to bid for the Summer Games in nine years time with the country`s soccer association (DFB) making no secret of its wish to land Euro 2024.

"If there is one country capable of hosting both in a super sports year, then it is Germany," DOSB Secretary General Michael Vesper said, adding that a June/July date would not clash with a July/August Games.

"There is enough room," Vesper told Deutschlandfunk radio.

Germany has not hosted a summer Olympics since Munich in 1972 but planning to stage both major events in the same summer with parallel candidacies could backfire.

Turkey was equally committed in 2013 to its 2020 Olympic bid before a surprise candidacy for Euro 2020 which did not materialise after UEFA decided to stage the tournament in several countries across Europe.

The IOC was irritated by the twin bids at the time, saying Turkey could not host both events.

Hamburg is up against Boston and Rome with several more cities, including Paris, Baku, Doha and Istanbul seen as potentially joining the race up to the Sept. 15 deadline set by the International Olympic Committee.

Hamburg beat Berlin in an internal DOSB board vote on Monday with the full membership expected to ratify the decision on March 21.

The German Football Association (DFB) last year publicly asked for England`s support to land the 2024 European Championship, offering to pull out of the running for matches in 2020 and support an English bid for the 2028 tournament.