East shunned as World Cup teams seek German bases
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-19 09:32

The German football association has been keen that the east does not miss out on the economic and cultural benefits Germany's hosting of the World Cup should bring.

SPORTING CONTACTS

A brochure sent to participating nations included an extensive list of 16 suggested locations in the eastern states.

City and hotel chiefs acknowledge that the bulk of the matches are in the west, concentrated around the Rhine and industrial Ruhr valleys, and that sporting contacts go back longer with western cities. Some also argue that certain cities have paid to attract high-profile teams.

"Most of the teams will land in Frankfurt, so the natural inclination may be to look around there and the Rhine area," said Ulrich Wolter, head of the World Cup organisers' office in Leipzig.

Christian Ehrlert of the Hotel Kloster Nimbschen in Grimma, said it would be a shame if the east missed out, but said the five games in nearby Leipzig were a definite plus.

"Whatever happens, 2006 will be a good year," he said.

However, with six teams still to decide, Potsdam, effectively a suburb of Berlin but in the eastern state of Brandenburg, may be on the verge of scoring the first victory for an eastern city.

"We are in intensive talks. It's a European nation. It's 99 percent certain," Hartmut Pirl, director of the city's Seminaris SeeHotel said.