The Mini-World Cup Kicks Off
June 15, 2005
So far, more than 500,000 tickets have been sold to the Confederations Cup tournament, which kicks off Wednesday night when Argentina plays Tunisia in Cologne.
Most of the fans will be locals, eager to get a measure of how organizers, as well as their team, are coming along ahead of the World Cup next summer. Both organizers and political officials are hoping not to disappoint.
The two-week tournament will be televised in 170 countries across the world, and organizers are hoping the 600,000-ticket barrier is reached some time during the tournament. Top matches like Argentina and Germany on June 21 and Greece vs. Brazil in Leipzig on June 16 are already sold out.
"The tournament is much more than a dress rehearsal for next year's World Cup," FIFA President Joseph Blatter told journalists. "It's a prestigious international tournament in its own right: you just have to cast an eye over the starting field."
Win the Confed Cup, win the World Cup
Hosts Germany will be joined by Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Greece, Australia and Tunisia, the top teams from the world's soccer federations. Though several teams aren't arriving with their top players -- who are either injured or, like Brazilian star Ronaldo, "taking a rest" -- coaches say each team is taking the tournament seriously.
German coach Jürgen Klinsmann (photo) said the tournament will be crucial to seeing how his young squad measures up against top competition, one year before it plays the World Cup at home. Soccer officials have promised each player a 60,000 euro ($72,000) bonus if they hoist the trophy on June 29. The reason?
"He who wants to win the World Cup, should also win the Confederations Cup," said German Soccer Association President Theo Zwanziger.
Security also getting a test run
The same philosophy might apply to German security officials. One year before welcoming more than a million soccer fans into the country, Germany's police are eager to show the world that they can put on a peaceful tournament.
The National Information and Cooperation Center, a new body created expressly to coordinate policing activities for the 2006 tournament, will get a test run during the Confederations Cup. The center will provide situation reports culled from information coming in from Germany's federal and 16 state police forces.
"We won't have the really big groups of (foreign) fans that we expect for the World Cup," said organizing committee vice-president Wolfgang Niersbach. "But otherwise the measures in respect of security are the same … there will be an external security ring right around the stadium."
Too many tournaments
The heightened security measures are at the same time an acknowledgement of how far the Confed Cup has come since its humble beginnings as an invitation-only tournament of four teams in Saudi Arabia in 1992. But not all are happy about its progress.
The inclusion of yet another tournament in a playing schedule that can be gruelling for top-flight players has reaped criticism from some team managers. Four Mexican players, registered to play for the national team in the tournament, might not show up because of playing commitments to their clubs. FIFA has threatened to take action.
"The players don't have enough vacation," said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, a German soccer legend and chairman of Bundesliga champions FC Bayern Munich, adding that the tournament should be phased out.
Organizers, of course, don't want to hear such talk now. Everyone from the local fan to the Kaiser himself, World Cup 2006 organizing committee chief Franz Beckenbauer, is singing the Confed Cup's praises -- and hoping the home country (and team) make a strong showing.
"I'm looking forward to the tournament," said Beckenbauer. "And if people say afterwards we were good hosts, I'll be very satisfied."