Should Germany qualify for the 2016 European Championship in France, their base camp will be on the shores of Lake Geneva, at the four-star Hotel Ermitage, built in 1909. The facilities lie on the ‘Plateau des Mateirons’ in a 19 hectare park, 125 meters above the lake and overlooking the town of Évian-les-Bains.
The hotel was completely refurbished in 2010, with over 80 bedrooms and eleven conferences rooms, which will be converted into offices and workspaces. For recuperation sessions the players will have the hotel’s own ‘Quatre Terres’ spa at their disposal. It is 45 kilometres to the airport in Geneva and only three kilometres to the town centre in Évian-les-Bains. The ‘Stade Camille Fournier’ training ground is only 1,000 metres from the hotel.
Germany’s team director Oliver Bierhoff says, “The World Cup and Campo Bahia are in the past, now we’re looking at the EUROs in France. As for detailed planning, we’ll look at that when we’ve definitely qualified. That is mainly out of respect to our next opponents, because we still have difficult challenges ahead of us. But we know from the last tournament that we need to start planning early in terms of organization and logistics. Compactness and short distances are important for us when picking the location, and we want to keep these parameters. After travelling up and down the country in the last months, and looking at various options, we finally found what we were looking for in Évian. At the Hotel Ermitage we have excellent conditions to be able to work, train and recover in peace. Lake Geneva and the Alps both offer an impressive panorama, the proximity to the town of Évian and the possibilities for the media who accompany us are also added bonuses.”
During the EUROs the facilities will be available exclusively to the DFB. Germany is not the first team to use this hotel as a base for preparation. Teams from the Premier League, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga, including Lyon and Mainz 05, have already used the facilities for their pre-season preparations.
“Évian is known for its exceptional position between Lake Geneva and the Alps,” said the Mayor of Évian-les-Bains, Marc Francina. “The people of Évian love sport, so we’re proud that the DFB has chosen our home as their base and made Évian a part of the 2016 EUROs. We wish the Germany team all the best in their qualification and we will try our best to be good hosts for them next summer.”
Yannick Le Hec, the general manager of the Évian Resort, says, “It’s a huge honour for us to be able to call ourselves hosts to the current World Champions during the 2016 EUROs. We wish the DFB all the best for this competition.”
