Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend the quarter final between Germany and Greece on Friday, a spokesman said, a match with plenty of resonance off the field amid a crippling economic crisis.
"She is hoping for an exciting and fair match," said the government's deputy spokesman Georg Streiter.
Merkel will fly from a crucial four-way summit with the leaders of Italy, Spain and France in Rome which jittery financial markets are watching closely for signs of long-term solutions to the eurozone's painful debt crisis.
But with Merkel cutting an unpopular figure in Greece for her insistence on painful austerity measures as the best response to the crisis, the match has taken on an added intensity.
RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / BUNDESREGIERUNG / GUIDO BERGMANN"- NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS German Chancellor Angela Merkel (C) meets with Germany's national football team players Captain Philip Lahm, Miroslav Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger during a dinner in Sopot on June 6, 2012, ahead of the EURO 2012 football championships. AFP PHOTO / POOL / BUNDESREGIERUNG / GUIDO BERGMANN