A year from today, those obsessives who feel bereft during this football-free European summer (guilty as charged) will be able to watch their umpteenth consecutive game of the World Cup. The action will be coming thick and fast from Germany as the group stage ends. We can be sure that at least one favourite will have already flown home to a barrage of rotten tomatoes, at least one African team will be dancing into the knockout stages and the grannies of In-ger-land will be in thrall.
Preparations for the 2006 finals began in earnest this month as a smattering of international squads arrived in Germany for the Confederations Cup. While England is short of football the Germans are very busy: their men played in the Confederations Cup, their under-20s took on Argentina in the World Youth Cup in Holland, and their women drew a big television audience last Sunday as they won the Euro 2005 final against Norway. A crowd of 12 000 in Leverkusen turned up just to watch Brazil stretch their limbs at a training session, and Germany’s opening match against Australia attracted TV ratings 25% above average.
”We will be 100% ready,” asserted Franz Beckenbauer, president of the 2006 organising committee. A handful of the less prestigious venues are having a run-out this month — among them Leipzig and Frankfurt, both new grounds — but the Germans have deliberately kept a couple of crown jewels under wraps during the Confederations Cup. Their two showpiece stadiums, from the two highest-profile cities, Berlin and Munich, are being saved for the main event.
The opening game of the World Cup will take place in Munich’s brand new Allianz Arena. Quite a sight it is to behold, too: its owners like to think it is the best in the world. The Arena is co-owned and was jointly funded by Munich’s two major clubs, Bayern and 1860, and its unique selling point is that it glows in the dark. The exterior is made from clear panels, which are illuminated in either red, blue or white, depending on who is playing. Everybody agrees it looks stunning.
”This is probably the coolest stadium in the world,” Bayern’s chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge proclaimed. The architects’ concept — ”a form of magical poetry thanks to the translucent shell bathed in light” — is visible from miles around. It opened last month to a blaze of enthusiasm and ceremony, Bavarian style. On 1860’s open day, the place was blessed by Catholic and Lutheran bishops to cover all eventualities, then pre-match entertainment was supplied by Right Said Fred singing Football’s Coming Home, before the team beat Nurnberg in a derby.
The next day it was Bayern’s turn: the singer Seal performed in lederhosen, Beckenbauer took the ceremonial kick-off with a giant ball and Bayern thumped a Germany XI. For two days the luminous stadium hummed. With a capacity of 66 000, the biggest car park in Europe, and all mod cons, the Allianz Arena cost, at £190-million, a quarter of what is being spent on building Wembley. And it was completed on time. Vorsprung durch technik, indeed.
Another characteristic unusual in contemporary design is that the stadium includes areas which can be converted into safe terracing for fans who want to stand. This is perhaps the most fascinating innovation of all: 10 000 seats in each of the north and south stands fold away. Each seat equates to one standing place so the capacity remains the same, even though the experience and price varies.
About 500km to the northeast of Munich is the venue for the final. Berlin’s reconstructed Olympiastadion is the biggest at the World Cup, seating 76 000.
The legendary venue of the 1936 Olympics has been given a facelift. Renovations cost almost as much as the construction of the Allianz Arena, and trickery with lights on the roof is a feature in Berlin too. Unfortunately, in football terms, the running track remains, which puts a dampener on atmosphere and a strain on eyes (binoculars are recommended in the top tiers).
In the five years since Germany was awarded the 2006 World Cup, huge renovations have taken place at a dozen major stadiums. The total cost of building work at all venues is approximately £920-million: only £160-million more than has been spent on Wembley alone. And the chances of seeing Wembley finished on time for the 2006 FA Cup final, the month before the Allianz Arena raises the curtain on the World Cup, are diminishing by the day. — Â