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East shunned as World Cup teams seek German bases
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-19 09:32
BERLIN, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Want to avoid the World Cup next year? Eastern
Germany could be the ideal destination.
Germany will host the month-long
tournament from June and organisers hope the celebrations will be spread across
the reunited country.
Twenty-six of the 32 participating teams have already chosen their World Cup
bases. None, however, will be in East Germany.
True, the eastern city of Leipzig will be the scene of four opening-phase
matches and a last-16 clash, but critics argue it is an oasis in a barren land.
The capital, in the east, will also stage five games including the final, as
well as hosting the German national side, but this will all take place in former
West Berlin.
Champions and favourites Brazil will be near Frankfurt, Argentina will be in
northern Bavaria and France near Hamelin, famed for its rat-catching Pied Piper.
Rainer Milkoreit, director of the sports academy in eastern Bad Blankenburg,
said Togo and Australia had expressed interest in coming, but the African
newcomers will be by the Austrian border, while Australia will play only in
southern Germany.
FRAUDULENT OFFICIAL
"It seems the east isn't attractive for these teams. But it's hard to
understand. Many of our facilities are much more modern than those in the west,"
Milkoreit said.
"It's supposed to be a World Cup of united Germany, but that's not recognised
by the teams."
The city of Magdeburg, whose local side won the European Cup Winners' Cup in
1974, was still holding out hope of attracting Angola or Ukraine.
Local media thought the eastern city had landed Ivory Coast earlier this
month, but the African government official they referred to turned out to be a
fraudster.
"Of course it is for the national football associations to decide," said
Rudiger Koch, Magdeburg council's head of culture, said. "But I would personally
find it regrettable if the new (eastern) states were not represented."
The east has been a poor relation to the affluent west. More than one million
people have moved out since reunification in 1990 and unemployment is almost
double the level of that in the west despite billions of euros poured in to
smarten up town centres and improve infrastructure.
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