Converting match times from Germany to the UK or another international time zone can be complicated. We have put together an overview.
Would you like to know when your favourite football team will be playing in the 2024 European Championship in Germany, but aren't sure how to convert the match times? Or are you just curious about what time it is in Germany? We have put together a table with all kick-off times.
| Match #1 | Match #2 | Match #3 | Time Zone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 15.00 | 18.00 | 21.00 | UTC+2 |
| England/ Scotland/ Portugal | 14.00 | 17.00 | 20.00 | UTC+1 |
| Ukraine/ Romania/ Turkey | 16.00 | 19.00 | 22.00 | UTC+3 |
| Georgia | 17.00 | 20.00 | 23.00 | UTC+4 |
| USA (New York) | 09.00 | 12.00 | 15.00 | UTC-4 |
| USA (Los Angeles) | 06.00 | 09.00 | 12.00 | UTC-7 |
Overview of the time zones
Worldwide, the UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is normally used for orientation. However, there are also separate names for the different time zones.
Germany uses Central European Time (CET) as standard time and Central European Summer Time (CEST) as summer time. In German, these are called „Mitteleuropäische (Sommer-)Zeit“ (MEZ/ MESZ).
GMT means "Greenwich Mean Time". There is no difference between GMT and UTC. GMT is an old name for UTC. The time zone applies in parts of Europe, Africa, Greenland and even partly in Antarctica. In summer, "British Summer Time" applies in England, Scotland and Portugal, which are one hour behind Germany. 8 GMT is therefore 9 o'clock in Germany.
PDT (Pacific Daylight Time) is 7 hours behind (earlier than) UTC. PDT is a summer time zone in North America. In contrast to North America, the 24-hour system („military time“) is generally used in Germany and Europe, i.e. no distinction is made between "am" and "pm". For example, 10 am PDT is 19.00 (7 pm) in Germany.
There are also two different time zones in Europe to the east of Germany.
Countries such as Ukraine, Romania and Turkey are in the "Eastern European Summer Time". They are one hour ahead of Germany. So when the EURO 2024 kicks off at 6 o'clock in the evening, for example, it will already be 7 o'clock in these countries.
Georgia is even further east. „Georgian Standard Time“ applies here, which is two hours ahead of Germany. Georgian fans will therefore have to stay up particularly late for the last match of EURO 2024: Kick-off is not until 11pm local time.