Sunday, June 18, 2006
The world as guest with friends - The FIFA Football World Championship 2006 in Germany
During the next four weeks the Football World Championship takes place in Germany. After 1974, Germany is hosting one of the biggest and most significant sport events of the world for the second time. The best football players from 32 countries are "guests with friends", the slogan of the Championship and compete for the title. For months the World Championship is the dominating issue not only in the host country but in all other countries, which take part in the competition. Germany is not necessarily the top favourite. There are other countries like Argentina, England, France, Holland or Italy and above all, Brazil. Nevertheless the euphoria in our country is still huge. Germany is known to increase its performance in big tournaments and also won the title in 1974, when it was last hosted the Championship.
The matches are played in 12 different cities. Hanover also belongs to one of these. A total of five games will be taking place in the “FIFA Football World Champion Stadium Hanover”, known as the AWD-Arena to the locals. This is because advertisement is permitted during this period exclusively to the main FIFA-sponsors in and around the stadium. For these exclusive rights the sponsors needed to pay a huge sum of money to the FIFA. These arrangements are also the reason, which is why there will be e.g. no local beer in the stadium except one of the main sponsor, a big American brewery. All together an immense number of regulations has been issued by the FIFA, which are to be kept. Thus all the seats with the logo of the local sponsor AWD had to be replaced in the stadium by neutral seats. And also a substitute of the almost new lawn for a special lawn prescribed by the FIFA. To fulfil all the regulations, cost the organizing cities a lot of money.But however for these cities, the World Championship on the other hand meant a lot of additional gains and a big image profit.
Also off the pitch, a vast range of entertainment is offered to the guests. A
so-called "fan-mile" was established by the central railway station up to the
stadium. Numerous events take place there. Directly in front of the railway station,
one can buy a large number of souvenirs. On a mini football field at the Kröpcke quare, you are able to participate in a Quiz. In addition, a worldwide village was built up around the central market church. Artists from 32 nations perform and contribute to it in order to exchange different cultures. A live concert free of charge with well-known Hanover rock stars like Heinz-Rudolf Kunze, Mousse T., Fury in the Slaughterhouse and The Scorpions performed the start to a series ofarrangements that took place on Wednesday, 5th June close to the Waterloo column.
Football is played as well, of course. In the qualifying round four games will take
place in Hanover, in which one can see the teams from Costa Rica, Poland, Mexico, Angola, Italy, Ghana, Switzerland and South Korea. Then on the 27th of June one of the quarter-final game will be played here. If the favourites stand up to its rivals, the teams from Spain or Ukraine and as well as the teams from France or Switzerland can be seen in Hanover. This way, the Hanoverians can experience almost one third of all participating countries live in their city.
Let's look forward to a big football party and that it will be a happy and peaceful one. And that we will present ourselves as a friendly and cosmopolitan host.
Let's play football.
"FIFA Football Worlchampionship 2006" is (C) 2006 by FIFA
(by Manfred Peter - thank you!)
// posted by BEL @ Sunday, June 18, 2006 
