Napoleon Bonaparte famously preferred lucky generals. With Jupiter in the 1st house in square to his Sun and a Mercury/Midheaven conjunction, he was both brilliant and fortunate.
One of his two greatest victories was the battle of Ulm (where with very little effort he outflanked and entrapped an Austrian army) in 1805 occurred when transit Jupiter was trine his MC.
The Battle of Ulm was fought less than an hour’s drive away from Munich, the venue for the final of Euro 2024.
So will we see a repeat?
With a Libra Sun opposite Saturn, Moon in Cancer and Virgo rising, no-one is going to claim French manager Didier Deschamps as a Napoleonic figure. The only thing they’d have in common is their height (both reaching a mere 1.7m).
Deschamps main placements are more fitting with Eric Cantona’s description of him as a “water carrier”.
But with a Jupiter/Pluto conjunction right on his Ascendant, Didier Deschamps is without doubt a lucky general.
He is one of only two people to have won the World Cup as a manager and a player (with Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer). Both times he had transit Jupiter on his side.
In 1998 he captained the French team that beat Brazil with Jupiter trine his Moon.
Twenty years later he was manager as Jupiter was sextile his Mars.
For the Euros, Jupiter will be close to square his Mars.
And a Jupiter/Mars managerial transit came within a penalty shootout of winning the last Euros.
You could say that Gareth Southgate was an almost lucky general. Had the tournament not been postponed due to Covid, England would probably had their usual ignominious quarter final exit, but with Euro 2020 occurring during the summer of 21, Jupiter was opposite the manager’s Mars.
He was finally beaten by Italy, managed by Roberto Mancini who had transit Jupiter square to his Sun.
I backed both England and Italy each way, so cashed in big time.
But this year could be his because Southgate has the same transit as Mancini had three years ago, Jupiter square his Sun.
This is a transit he shares with fellow Virgo, Keir Starmer who is a shoo in for his first big trophy in July.
What about the home nation?
International management is usually the province of old men, and often their last job in football. Germany’s Julian Nagelsmann is almost twenty years the junior of Deschamp and Southgate, but he’s always been young for a manager.
He was forced to give up playing because of a knee injury at the age of 20, and by 28 had become a manager.
Nagelsmann reached the top at Bayern Munich but a disappointing year for the club saw him sacked and appointed Germany manager.
All this happened under Pluto’s opposition to his Sun. This transit is still in operation.
Nagelsmann has a natal Sun/Pluto square, so inevitably this transit would be the turning point in his life. And it could easily be the reason for him losing the Bayern job in the first place.
So are we about to see football coming home for the Germans, 28 years after they stole the chant and the tournament from England?
Well transit Jupiter is also sextile Nagelsmann’s Mars, so there is a very real possibility.
England, France and Germany are the favourites but what about the rest?
Portugal manager Roberto Martinez had his own Pluto opposite Sun transit with Belgium in the 2018 World Cup but only managed third place, being knocked out in the semis by winners, France.
There’s nothing in his transits to take Portugal even that far this time round.
What about Spain?
In contrast to all of the above, Luis De La Fuente is a relative unknown.
Will he stay that way?
Probably, but his Mars/Uranus conjunction in Leo is interesting as transit Uranus will be square his Mars for the tournament.
So some kind of shock is possible.
What about the holders?
The advantage of being one of the oldest managers at the Euros means there’s a good chance you’ve lived long enough for someone to have dug up a birthtime for you.
The disadvantage means that at the age of 65, Saturn is already calling for retirement and its conjunction with the Luciano Spalletti’s Sun this year is unlikely to see him exit with a Euro trophy.
Another one who’s been round the block a few times is the Netherlands manager, Ronald Koeman.
This is one where we do need a birthtime, because if he’s born in the early hours he would have transit Pluto conjunct his Moon. This could either resuscitate or end a career.
My feeling is that Koeman was more likely born later in the day as Pluto’s transit square to his Moon would then have coincided with 1988 when he was a mainstay of the Dutch team that won the Euros and PSV Eindhoven’s only European Cup success.
If so he won’t be repeating that achievement this time round.
Another nation that is always talked up is Belgium.
Manager Domenico Tedesco has transit Saturn opposite his Sun, so an embarrassing early exit could be on the cards for Belgium.
Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic will have transit Pluto square his Sun but possibly also transit Neptune conjunct his Moon.
Which means he could either put a bomb under this tournament or sink without trace.
Jupiter square to his Mars, however could be enough to see Croatia through to the quarter finals at least. They are 40/1 for the tournament but might be a decent bet to reach the latter stages.
The same would apply to another 40/1 shot, Denmark
Transit Jupiter conjunct Kasper Hjulmand’s Mars make the Danes an even better bet to reach the later stages.
If I go through the transits for all of the managers I might not get this published before the tournament starts, so I’ll stop at this point.
Perhaps a look at a few captains might help.
Much merriment has been had that England captain Harry Kane finally made the big transfer to serial winners Bayern Munich, just in time for his new club to have Saturn conjunct their Sun and win nothing at all for the first time in 12 years.
With transit Saturn close to opposing Kane’s Mars, you can’t really see this curse being lifted anytime soon.
The French captain and all round superstar, Kylian Mbappe has had a surreal final season with PSG, which would fit with Neptune’s transit square to his Sun.
It has moved away a little now but will return in the Autumn, which might be enough to make Real Madrid question the wisdom of paying him half of the GDP of Spain to join them.
However given that Spain seems perfectly willing to hand over half its GDP for whatever Les Meringues want as their dream dessert, that doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Transit Jupiter trine Mbappe’s Mars and Ascendant could well see him breaking with Neptune and lifting this trophy, thus inflating his wages even further.
German captain, Ilkay Gundoghan has a Pluto transit that has already seen him captain Man City to a unique treble having scored a hat trick in the FA Cup Final and like Mbappe securing a transfer to Spain.
Pluto is still around, as it is for his manager.
Also transit Jupiter is very close to conjunct his Mars, so a summer holiday as European Champion captain can’t be ruled out.
The Portuguese captain needs no introduction.
With Cristiano pushing 40, it’s ridiculous to consider him lifting the trophy, but transit Jupiter will be sextile his Leo Moon, so he will be expecting to do so.
With Neptune bang on the Ascendant in exact square to Mars and Venus in Aries, a dream starring role was always going to be his, and its transit to conjunct these two over the next couple of years will probably see his football career finally ending. Maybe Hollywood beckons.
Spain captain, Alvaro Morata has a similar combination to the Croatia manager, Pluto square his Sun and Neptune opposite his Moon, but I can’t see this as a winning combination.
So where does all this leave us?
While anticipating a strong showing from Croatia and Denmark, it’s hard to see anyone other than the three favourites winning the Euros.
Will July bring us a Starmer/Southgate victory coalition?
Or perhaps Napoleon will have the final say.
If so, would that be the French victory in Ulm/Munich in 1805 or one of his defeats in the following decade.
Thanks to Abba, we all know about Waterloo, but Domenico Tedesco’s Saturn transit has already blown Belgium out of contention.
“The real turning point in Napoleon’s military career came in 1813, after the retreat from Moscow in the Battle of Leipzig.
“The decisive moment came on October 19 when coalition forces breached the French positions after a prolonged period of intense fighting.
This was the moment that forced Napoleon himself to order a retreat across the Elster River.
Controversially, his escape was followed soon after by the destruction of the only bridge to safety due to a premature detonation.
With nowhere to run or to receive orders from their general, the French army suffered horrendous losses.
The defeat at Leipzig led to a larger retreat of French soldiers from Germany and opened the way for the invasion of France itself.
The battle finally broke the spell of French control over European territories that had existed for over a decade.
This ultimately led to Napoleon’s abdication of the French throne and his exile from Europe.”
The commander of the Prussian troops at Leipzig was Gebhard Blucher.
Blucher had Mars at 4 Virgo.
On 19th October 1813, Jupiter was at 4 Virgo.
So in the absence of any other means of choosing between them, I will take this as a sign.
German captain Ilkay Gundogan has Mars at 14 Gemini.
The Euro final on 14th July 2024 has Jupiter at 11 Gemini.
That’s close enough.
And Ilkay Gundogan just happens to be German for lucky general.
Posted 26 May 2024
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