Around 1000 volunteers for EURO 2024 came together at the Volunteer Kick-Off in the Arena AufSchalke on Saturday (May 4). Mayor Karin Welge warmly welcomed the volunteers to Gelsenkirchen before they learned more about their future tasks and got to know their team.
Jörg Seveneick led through the colorful program. Albärt, the European Championship mascot, was also on site. Sabrina Wurm, Dennis Buss and part of the miners' choir performed the European Championship anthem for Gelsenkirchen "In Dir (Meine Stadt GE)". During the subsequent arena tours, the volunteers were able to inspect their future places of work, talk shop with Schalke legend Klaus Fischer and find out about the "Colorful Art of Football" project from artist Christian Nienhaus, which was implemented in the stadium a day later. The volunteers were also shown the green uniform they will be wearing during the European Championship.
In Gelsenkirchen and at the nine other EURO locations, 1600 volunteers will be on duty. This number gives rise to the motto 16,000 volts. Without the active support of the volunteers, it would not be possible to stage such a tournament. The volunteers' fields of activity are diverse and their places of work are not only in the stadium, but are spread across the entire city. The volunteers greet supporters at the train stations, help at fan festivals and show visitors the way around the arena.
At the stadium, they are not only the contact persons for soccer fans, but also provide support in important organizational areas such as media and broadcaster services, IT and ticketing.
In Gelsenkirchen, 49 nationalities are represented among the volunteers. Diverse language skills are very helpful for the international cast of the tournament. Around 70 percent of the volunteers have already gained experience as volunteers, many of them at FC Schalke 04.
