Zurich hotel discreetly prepares to host history

The Baur au Lac hotel will again fear for its reputation when FIFA delegates descend on the opulent palace in Zurich this week to elect a new leader.

The hotel, which boasts of being "the ultimate in comfort and privacy," has been the target of police raids and uncomfortable publicity for the last two meetings of soccer's scandal-tainted world body.

Twice, Swiss investigators, acting on US arrest warrants, staged dawn raids on the exclusive establishment which overlooks Lake Zurich and boasts prices up to $3,800 a night.