The Run-Up  

When on April 15, 2002, the twelve German host cities for matches of the 2006 FIFA Football World Cup™ were selected in the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Nuremberg was among the cities chosen.

Originally, the organising committee intended to create a support programme for all German World Cup cities, in co-operation with the Federal Government and the Culture Foundation, but this plan was soon abandoned. So it was up to the individual World Cup cities to plan and implement their support programme for the 2006 World Cup, as well as finding the finance for this.

On November 16, 2002, the Organising Committee for the 2006 FIFA Football World Cup™ invited all World Cup cities to a meeting in Gelsenkirchen. This was intended for discussion of the support programmes, and for integrating the15 FIFA main sponsors and 6 national sponsors in those support programmes.

On November 26, 2002, the City of Nuremberg established a co-ordinating group, representing all departments of the municipal administration and led by the Lord Mayor, with the brief of working out a draft concept for the support programme. It was to define the central goals Nuremberg wanted to achieve with its World Cup participation, as well as giving some ideas of how these were to be implemented in concrete measures, projects and activities.

The City Council adopted the next version of this support programme, including the financing.

In June 2005, the Confederations Cup provided an advance taste of things to come in the 2006 FIFA Football World Cup™, when three top matches were contested in the Franken-Stadion: Australia and Argentina played 2:4 in the preliminary round. The German national team drew 2:2 with Argentina. And in the semi-final, later tournament winner Brazil beat Germany 3:2 witnessed by a capacity audience.

On December 9, 2005, in the course of a major gala event in Leipzig, the group matches for the final round were drawn, allotting four matches in the preliminary round and one match in the round of the last sixteen to Nuremberg:

 

11.06.2006	Preliminary Group D Mexico – Iran
15.06.2006	Preliminary Group B England – Trinidad & Tobago
18.06.2006	Preliminary Group F Japan – Croatia
22.06.2006	Preliminary Group E Ghana – USA
25.06.2006	Last Sixteen: Winner Group D – Runner-up Group C Portugal – Netherlands

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