FIFA Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft Deutschland 2006
Fiesta of Culture
AFP, Berlin
With 1,000 days to go before the 2006 World Cup, hosts Germany unvei-led Thursday an ambitious multi-million euro programme of cultural events to take place before the first kick-off. "We want the world to wait in anticipation for 2006. The one-two between sport and culture will work," said Franz Beckenbauer, chairman of the World Cup organising committee and German footballing legend. The programme gets underway in earnest on Friday with the opening of a museum dedicated to the sport inside a massive 15-metre (50-foot) high illuminated football on Berlin's famed Pariser Platz. The museum, which will include England star David Beckham's football boot and the match balls used in the 1954 and 1974 finals won by Germany, will be opened by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and FIFA president Joseph Blatter. Designed by Austrian artist Andre Heller and with lights which make it appear like a globe of the world, the ball will stand just a few metres from the Brandenburg Gate. "It's a chance to show our country in its best light," Interior Minister Otto Schily said of the cultural programme. The events will include conferences on sport and society, plays and concerts and will cost an estimated 30 million euros (33.5 million dollars). The illuminated football will remain in Berlin for about seven weeks before beginning a tour to the 12 stadiums that will host the 2006 World Cup.
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German multimedia artist Andre Heller (L), the legendary Franz Beckenbauer (C) and Interior Minister Otto Schilly pose in front of Heller's giant football which is in sight of the Brandenburger gate in Berlin on September 11. Photo: AFP |
