The great thing about the UEFA Euro Cup of this year is that France falls within the same time zone as Germany. On the same token, that is one major downside of tuning in to watch the Copa America Centenario, since the time difference puts the games at 2:00 a.m. or at 4:00 a.m.
Hence, those of you in Leipzig will be able to watch the Euro Cup live on TV in the evening.
Here at The Leipzig Glocal, we want to give you a few tips on where you can go out to watch the games and add the social component (and beer!!!) to the beautiful game!
Since I am a mainstream guy, let’s start with the place with most options to enjoy football: the Karli (or the Karl-Liebknecht-Straße.).
The Karli is a bar-filled strip that provides plenty of options to watch the Euro Cup 2016 games. All of them are within walking distance of each other, and of tram stops, which makes it great in case you are running late and your favorite spot is full.
Volkshaus is a good choice since it’s spacious (again, good if you are running late…) and it offers traditional German cuisine in case you need to feed your body as well as your soul (for your soul there is football!!!).
If you want to enjoy non-German food and beer, another good choice is Irish pub Killywilly, where you can find Guinness. The place is not that spacious inside and does tend to get crowded; there is, however, outside seating in the warm seasons (now).
Next door you can find Mexican-themed Acapulco. Another nice spot further down on the Karli is McCormacks, another Irish pub frequented by football fans. If I forgot to mention a spot on the Karli, you’ll be able to find it easily since they are all a short walk away from each other. Also, once again, many of these bars offer outdoor options to watch the games.
However, there are other good spots to watch the Euro Cup games besides the Karli. Let’s stay close to the city center for a second.
There is Café Cantona just north of Bayerischer Bahnhof, which is also frequented by football fans. On Gottschedstraße, a decent spot is Barcelona, which offers outdoor options to watch the games.
For public viewing in a great outdoor location (with beer!), go to the Music Pavilion located in Clara Zetkin Park. This is a great spot if the football gods keep the rain away…
On the east of the city, Poniatowski will show the Poland games (i.e. Poland vs. Germany on June 16th) and offers fine Polish beer and food to go with that.
Now let’s go to the west of the city. Felsenkeller offers a beer garden to watch all games. Also, Neues Schauspiel offers a spacious spot for public viewing.
Hopefully you will not be short of options to enjoy this great month upon us! And with knowledge of the many options that Leipzig offers, you can drag your non-football fan friends (unfortunately we all have those…) to accompany you with the promise of a nice location and German beer!!!