The European Football Championship is in full swing in Germany, with fans flocking to stadiums from across Europe and beyond. But the country's aging transport infrastructure has been struggling to cope with the increased load, leading many to question whether Germany deserves its reputation for efficiency.
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00:00It's two o'clock on a Thursday and Germany's financial hub has turned into a giant football
00:05fan zone.
00:07In a few hours, tournament favourite England meet Denmark.
00:13And the atmosphere is ecstatic.
00:15I've been loving it. The people are so friendly, having a great time. Everyone's been so nice
00:22to us. Yeah, it's been great.
00:24The party is in full swing here and let's face it, these guys here don't need to worry
00:28about the beer running out. But the other big question for fans is, can Germany's infrastructure
00:34cope?
00:36Thousands of fans were left waiting hours when England met Serbia in Gelsenkirchen,
00:41leading to sharp criticism of organisation and damaging Germany's reputation for efficiency.
00:47For me, Germany's been absolutely mint. The atmosphere's been brilliant. But when to Gelsenkirchen
00:53the other day, transport was a bit rubbish-like. A bit rubbish. It was very rubbish.
00:59Well, to be fair, they are an absolute nightmare. Why has none of them been on time? Not a single
01:05train has been on time.
01:08Kick-off is approaching and the fans begin making their way to the stadium.
01:13Let's see whether we can get in.
01:16Fans and residents alike have to squeeze, but the train won't move. We're hit with our
01:22first delay. Only after a very sweaty 15 minutes wait, the train rumbles on.
01:29Are you impressed so far?
01:31Not at all. We've been to every World Cup since 98, went to Qatar and this has been
01:37the worst tournament in terms of organisation for a long time that I can remember.
01:43One stop away from the stadium, the train stops again.
01:47So the train just threw everyone out and they're going to have to walk now.
01:52German efficiency is very disappointing. Nothing else than that.
01:58The trains are better in Denmark.
02:00Normally it's much better.
02:04To everyone's surprise, the train does continue. Only a few minutes later, it arrives at the
02:12stadium.
02:13How do you feel now that you've actually made it to the stadium?
02:19I'm so happy. And we're going to win this match tonight.
02:24I know for sure.
02:25There's no chance of that. There's no chance.
02:28Turns out neither of them was right, but at least they made it to the match in time.