Germany’s football factory: a travel guide to the Ruhr

All eyes will be on Germany’s industrial heartland next month as Euro 2024 kicks off. We explore the region’s heritage, renewal and sporting historyIn 1961, future West German chancellor Willy Brandt declared: “The sky above the Ruhr must be blue once more.” His words were greeted with what sounded like applause but was actually his audience falling off their chairs. Because the Ruhrpott, or Ruhrgebiet, an agglomeration of industrial cities that includes Gelsenkirchen (wh