Baguettes and spaghetti desecrated in Euro 2024 ‘food wars’

HAMBURG – First it was Albanian fans taunting their Italian rivals by snapping uncooked spaghetti in front of them.

Then the Austrians followed suit, breaking baguettes in the faces of French fans before their Euro 2024 clash.

Fans flocking to Germany for the month-long tournament are entertaining themselves with good-natured “food wars” that are looking every bit as spicy as the games themselves.

As well as the desecration of national foods in the streets – which has sparked more laughter than outrage – food banners are springing up in stadiums.

“Fondue better than goulash,” read one at Switzerland v Hungary.

“Eat Pasta, Run Fasta,” said an Italian poster at the Albanian game. And “Kielbasa (sausage) better than gouda,” boasted Polish fans against the Netherlands.

The food insults have, however, so far proved a bad omen.

Albania lost 2-1 to Italy after their pasta-breaking, Austria were beaten 1-0 by the baguette-loving French, while there was nothing cheesy about the Dutch 2-1 win.

Host nation Germany is counting its blessings that widely feared hooligan trouble has been minimal, with more snapped pasta and bread than broken bones and bottles.

“Thank God the violence has not been there. Instead we’re seeing a lot of fun and banter between fans like these hilarious ‘food wars’,” said food stallholder Roland Koch in Hamburg.

“Just don’t mess with our currywurst – or else then there will be trouble, I warn you!” he added, referring to the ubiquitous sausage and spicy sauce on sale at his kiosk and seemingly every other street corner in Germany.

In other offbeat news, a seemingly drunk England fan woke up cold and confused in an empty stadium hours after the apparent end of his team’s clash with Serbia, according to a video on social media.

“I’ve just woken up. It’s four o’clock in the morning,” the unidentified fan said in the video showing rows of empty seats behind him at the stadium in Gelsenkirchen where England won 1-0 in their opening game on June 16.

However, Uefa later reportedly said that the video “was not recorded during the tournament or even in recent weeks due to lack of Euro 2024 signage, branding and protocol elements in the stadium”.

To unaware social media users, the video – viewed hundreds of thousands of times – prompted laughter among fellow England supporters, though some questioned how security had missed the snoozing fan and also why the lights were still on in the early hours at the venue.

“This is what happens when you watch Sleepy Southgate ball!” read a comment, referring to coach Gareth Southgate managing a less-than-scintillating second-half performance. REUTERS