The European Championship match between England and Serbia takes place in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday. On Saturday, fans and English reporters make fun of the city and don’t leave a good hair on Schalke’s home.

You can’t get much more contemptuous than that about a city. “It looks like a sh…hole too,” wrote one English fan on the short messaging service X, expressing his utter contempt for the city of Gelsenkirchen. “I can’t believe Germany is hosting Euro 2024 matches here,” he wrote.

He also posted a video of the rainy station forecourt on Saturday morning. The anticipation of the England national team’s first European Championship match on Sunday against Serbia in the Veltins Arena was not apparent, at least not to this fan from the island.

Many fans from England were not yet in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday anyway. Many were apparently spending the day before the national team’s first match in other cities – such as Düsseldorf.

And some reporters would also have preferred to be in another city, as Kaveh Solhekol’s live broadcast suggests. The Briton is reporting on the European Championship from Germany for English broadcaster Sky Sports and shared his first impressions from Gelsenkirchen on Saturday afternoon.

“We spent four or five days in Munich. It’s a nice city to spend time in. Gelsenkirchen is a real contrast to that,” he said, referring to the history of the Ruhr region. “Of course, Gelsenkirchen is famous for its soccer stadium and FC Schalke 04, but there’s not much else here.” This explains why there are hardly any fans in Gelsenkirchen.

However, the reporter did find a few and reports on his impressions – including his own. One thing apparently shocked Solhekol: he was unable to pay by card in a restaurant where he had lunch with his team. “To all England fans who come: better bring small change,” he said.

The English fans and sports reporters certainly don’t seem to be conveying a good image of Gelsenkirchen to their home country at the moment