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World Cup plans on track for organisers and team
Internal rows and personal bickering remain an entertaining sideshow but with just over 17 months to go before the 2006 World Cup in Germany there is barely a hint of trouble on the organisational front. A mammoth 1.5-billion-euro ($2.04-billion) stadium building programme is on schedule, tickets are about to go on sale and the tournament mascot -- a huge puppet lion with a sidekick talking football -- is already busy on the PR work. It should come as no great surprise that Germany is taking care of business. The big news is that the hosts might just be building a team capable of challenging for victory. Juergen Klinsmann's appointment as coach in July last year, once seen as a desperate throw of the dice from a divided German Football Association, looks an ever more shrewd choice. "Germans are starting to believe in their national team again," German FA joint president Theo Zwanziger said this week. "That's an essential element for a great World Cup." It is four-and-a-half years since Germany beat South Africa in a bitter run-off to stage the competition and there was controversy from the start. Germany won the vote when New Zealand delegate Jack Dempsey acted against government instructions and abstained. There followed angry protests, calls for a re-vote and huge embarrassment when it emerged that a German magazine had sent hoax letters offering bribes to FIFA delegates.
TELEVISION DEALS Another row broke out with reports that Bayern Munich had agreed to play friendlies around the world, with lucrative television deals for their hosts, as part of Germany's campaign. Franz Beckenbauer, the former Bayern president who had spearheaded the German bid, denied any wrongdoing but later threatened to resign as organising committee president over a plan to raise the number of teams at the tournament to 36. Beckenbauer, Germany's footballing icon after leading the country to World Cup glory as a player in 1974 and as coach in 1990, also accused FIFA of being too interested in making money on tickets, hotel rooms and VIP packages. Last year, Beckenbauer conceded that the country's image had been damaged when a criminal investigation was launched into the contract award for the stadium that will host the tournament's opening game in Munich on June 9 2006. On the domestic front, Germany's Football Association had to split its presidency to settle a long-running power struggle and Klinsmann was soon ruffling feathers. The coach won his trial of strength with the FA over Germany's tournament base -- it will be Berlin rather than Leverkusen -- but was forced to accept that the hosts should play the tournament's inaugural match. But throughout the storm, the important business has been taken care off. All the stadiums are scheduled for completion by mid-2005, when Brazil and Argentina will be among the participants at the Confederations Cup. "We're on schedule," organising committee vice-president Wolfgang Niersbach said. "I can promise there won't be any headaches or headlines saying: 'Will they be finished on time?'"
VOLUNTEEER PROGRAMME Organisers could also be satisfied that lesser problems were solved quickly and painlessly. The "battle of the beer" was amicably resolved when the American company holding the stadium beverage rights agreed that a German brew could also be sold to fans. In December, the FA won a court victory against ticket touts and organisers announced this week that more than 25,000 people had signed up to a volunteer programme, surpassing the target by 10,000. Perhaps the most significant success has come in the form of Klinsmann, who became coach after a frantic search in the wake of Germany's dismal first-round exit at Euro 2004. Klinsmann has breathed fresh air into a stuffy German set-up, unearthing promising young players, inspiring a more attacking approach and even appointing a team psychologist. After a successful tour of Asia, there was general surprise when Klinsmann received the full support of Lothar Matthaeus. "One has to say, 'Congratulations Juergen, you've done everything right,'" said Matthaeus, who played alongside Klinsmann in the 1990 World Cup winning team but had been deeply unimpressed by his appointment. If Klinsmann can win praise from one of his sharpest critics, anything is possible for 2006.
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