Will they let us down?
Already at the airport, football players, coaches, journalists and support staff were horsing around, dancing and simply beaming with joy. The outpouring of emotion is quite understandable - the last time our country's national team participated in a major international forum (referring to European and World Championships) was back in 1992. Then the united team of an already disintegrating country, called the "CIS team" and led by Anatoly Byshovets, a product of Kyiv football, did not win a single match out of three in the group and left Sweden ahead of schedule.
Today, few people think about what our national team will show in the summer of 2006 on the fields of Germany. Of the 32 World Cup participants, 10 are already known, who received precious berths earlier than others. These are representatives of Asia - Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran, two South American countries - Argentina and Brazil, two North American - Mexico and the USA. And two more represent Europe - Germany and Ukraine. Moreover, the Germans were initially counted among the finalists of the 2006 World Cup as hosts of the tournament. And Ukraine was the first of the 13 European teams (this is the UEFA quota) to qualify for the championship.
Who will become our opponent in the final is still unknown. The draw will take place on December 9 in Leipzig, a city whose stadium will host championship matches. There are 11 more such cities in Germany - Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Kaiserslautern, Cologne, Munich, Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Stuttgart.
In a tough struggle
Preparation for such large-scale and very expensive events as the World Cup or the Olympic Games begins long before the start of the tournament. There are plenty of people willing to host such a forum. Every time when determining the future host of the World Cup, one has to make a difficult choice, and also vary the venue of the World Cup so that each continent gets its share of attention. World Championships are held once every four years, and to not be unfounded, let me remind you where the recent forums took place. So, 1982 - Spain, 1986 - Mexico, 1990 - Italy, 1994 - USA, 1998 - France, 2002 - Korea and Japan (joint bid).
The Germans had many competitors, but they all backed down because their organizing committees were not headed by a man who is successful in any field. Franz Beckenbauer is a legend of world football, winner of the 1972 Ballon d'Or, world and European champion with the West Germany national team, winner of the Champions Cup, the Cup Winners' Cup and the Intercontinental Cup with Munich's Bayern, champion and winner of the German Cup. Having become a coach, he did not lower the bar of his ambitions. In 1986, at the Mexican World Cup, the West German team, led by Kaiser Franz, only lost in the final to the magnificent Argentines, in whose ranks the great Diego Maradona shone. But in 1990, Beckenbauer took revenge: in the final of the Italian World Cup, the Germans beat Argentina. And the head coach of the champions left his post, remaining in people's memory as a winner.
Beckenbauer moved into a position as an official, taking charge of Munich's Bayern and achieved considerable success in this field. When the need arose to find a person known to the whole world, who would be trusted and respected, the search lasted no more than 10 minutes. By the way, on September 11, Beckenbauer turned 60. And in the spring of 2006, he plans to run for the post of UEFA president, which is currently held by elderly Swede Lennart Johansson.
The Kaiser, who led the campaign to bring the World Cup to Germany, again, contrary to predictions, achieved his goal. Since December 15, 1998, when Beckenbauer took up the task, he has circled the globe ten times, spent countless nights on airplanes, shook hands with dozens of presidents and prime ministers. And yet, when on the eve of the decisive phase of the vote, Brazil refused to fight for the World Cup in favor of South Africa, no one believed in Germany's victory anymore.
No one, except the Kaiser! And at the last minute - on July 5, 2000 - Beckenbauer nevertheless "scored a golden goal". At the same time, he can fully share his personal triumph with his teammates who came with him to Zurich. What the Germans showed simply discouraged their competitors - representatives of South Africa, England and Morocco. And the partners of team captain Beckenbauer were "merely" the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Interior Minister Otto Schily, tennis idol Boris Becker, supermodel Claudia Schiffer, famous football champions Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Günter Netzer, as well as the recently appointed national team coach Rudi Völler. None of the competitors could boast such a star lineup. None of Beckenbauer's rivals thought to include the head of state in their team.
The South Africans, who were actively supported by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, were, by the way, so confident of victory that they stated: there is no need for Nelson Mandela to be present in Zurich. But they miscalculated. Franz Beckenbauer defeated the all-powerful FIFA president, and, as the executive committee decided on July 6, 2000, the 2006 World Cup will be held in Germany.
Initially, there were 16 German cities on the list of candidates that could host World Cup matches. Bremen, Düsseldorf, Leverkusen and Mönchengladbach ended up among the losers. Despite the fact that in Bremen and Düsseldorf they modernized the stadium and increased the number of seats, and in Mönchengladbach they even built a new arena.
In cities that have been honored to host World Cup matches at their stadiums, work is already nearing completion. The Munich Allianz Arena recently went into operation, and most stadiums were tested during the Confederations Cup held in Germany in the summer of 2005. The format and scale of the tournament, of course, are not the same, but a test under combat conditions is worth a lot. The Germans, judging by experts' reviews, did not disappoint as always. But they still promised to improve the work of all services.
Do you have a spare ticket?
One of the most painful and very pressing issues is tickets for 2006 World Cup matches. Back in March of this year, Beckenbauer, who very often communicates with mass media representatives, warned that there will not be enough tickets for everyone. And advised to hurry with their purchase. According to the legend of German football, the hype around the World Cup is unprecedented: "Ticket distribution is one of the most difficult problems for us, because not everyone who wants to get into the stadium will be there. Even if our arenas held twice as many, there still wouldn't be enough places for everyone. But I assure you: the problems of fans are constantly at the center of attention of the organizing committee staff. It is the fans who provide the unique atmosphere of a bright celebration during the tournament.
On the other hand, organizing a FIFA World Cup, which will be watched by billions of people on all continents, requires approximately €430 million. Such a major event cannot be held without strong economic partners. Both sponsors and FIFA, of course, have the right to certain privileges. However, there can be no talk of some kind of 'sponsored' championship - the tournament is made not for sponsors, but for all football fans.
I do not yet feel any great anxiety. There is a reserve of time. We are actively engaged in preparations. The work is established, despite difficulties arising here and there. If we talk about the most pressing problems, I would first of all highlight security issues. Security measures are being developed jointly with the interior ministries of various countries. Unfortunately, there can be no question of absolute security. Do everything that depends on us. We saw in Portugal: fans ran onto the field, control was organized at an amateur level, it was possible to go through the turnstiles simply by holding a newspaper clipping or a credit card. We intend to pay more attention to control. Every employee must clearly know what a fan is required to present when entering the stadium. Terrorist threats? I have no fear. But we do not know what level the terrorist threat may reach by 2006.
Another serious problem is that we will not be able to provide a sufficient number of entrance tickets. They went on sale on February 15, 2005, and can be bought via the Internet and at official points of sale. During EURO 2004 in Portugal, there were quite a few empty seats in the stands, although it had been announced in advance that all tickets were sold. The essence of this problem is that a large part of the tickets were distributed through national federations. And those unclaimed tickets could not go back on sale. Even privately it was impossible to sell them. This operation was threatened with a 24-hour arrest. With us, unclaimed tickets will be accepted for return at points of sale. And fans will be able to try their luck to buy tickets immediately before the start of the game."
Beckenbauer and his team carefully studied the work of the organizing committee of the 2004 European Championship, which was held in Portugal. The Germans drew conclusions and will try to correct the shortcomings. The most important one is the unprepared infrastructure near the brand-new Portuguese stadiums. There was clearly a shortage of parking spaces; multi-hour traffic jams were observed before and after matches. One can, of course, say that a considerable share of the blame for this omission lies with the Portuguese government, where changes were taking place, which is why all work was suspended for a year. But that does not make it any easier for ordinary fans and tourists. Beckenbauer understands this perfectly well.
Returning to tickets, it is worth noting that FIFA insisted that 25% of all tickets go to German fans. The total number of "passes" for the 64 matches of the final tournament will exceed three million. And almost a million will go to the Germans. At the same time, the latter were dissatisfied with this ratio - the hosts would have liked to get much more.
It also became known that group stage matches will take place at 16:00, 19:00 and 22:00 Kyiv time. Starting from the Round of 16, games will begin at 18:00 and 22:00, and the starting whistle of the final match will sound on July 9 in Berlin at 21:00.
The first round of ticket sales for the 2006 World Cup ended on March 31. During this time, applications were accepted from a huge number of people. Much more than the 812 thousand tickets that were put on sale. Ticket holders were to be determined by a drawing under notarial control.
To purchase tickets, you must register and order them via the Internet at www.FIFAworldcup.com. Applications can also be sent by mail, provided that the official form is used, which can be found on the same website from February 1. The form can also be requested by mail at 2006 FIFA WorldCup Ticketing Center (FWCTC), keyword: 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany, 60583 Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland.
In the very first hours, the technology on the official 2006 World Cup website was working under enormous strain. Applications poured in immediately after midnight, and the Germans showed the greatest activity (84% of all applications). The total number of countries whose fans booked tickets for the tournament has long exceeded 100, and among them there are exotic states - for example, Macau and Burkina Faso.
It is also known that all more than three million tickets for World Cup matches will be equipped with RFID chips. Thus, the organizers of the competition hope to deal a strong blow to touts and sellers of counterfeit tickets. The contract for the production of RFID tags, each of which costs 10 euro cents, was won by Philips.
As for the tickets themselves, they will resemble ordinary airline tickets: they will indicate the owner's surname and cannot be resold to third parties. The microchip "embedded" in the cardboard will be used only as a means of protection against counterfeiting. It will not carry any information about the owner's identity.