Home-court advantage

The FIFA World Cup benefits Germany, not only economically but in redefining its people as a friendly and hospitable nation

Lars Meyer Berlin

A month ago, it didn’t look all that good. Germany’s national football team had suffered a devastating loss in a friendly match against Italy in March and barely held on to a two-goal tie against Japan, a nation known for sumo wrestling and robot competitions rather than world-class football. So I booked a ticket to Amsterdam at 8 pm on July 9, thinking it would be convenient to arrive a day early for a seminar starting in The Hague next day.

Last night, I changed my mind. July 9 is the day of this year’s World Cup final, and as I am writing this piece, it seems like every one of us 80 million Germans firmly believes that we stand a serious chance of playing Brazil and winning the Cup on that very day. It would be Germany’s fourth title after 1954, 1974 and 1990, but it would be a special one: Germany is hosting the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and that, it seems, means far more than just home-court advantage for our team.

Much arithmetic has preceded the opening match on June 8 of what is often acclaimed to be the biggest sports event in the world. While sponsoring, advertising and the sales of television rights will earn the international football federation, FIFA, revenues of up to 1.7 billion Euros, the organising committee around Germany’s so-called Kaiser, or Emperor, football legend Franz Beckenbauer, is expecting 3.2 billion spectators in the stadiums, among them over 1 billion fans visiting from other participating countries. Research institutes have predicted that Germany’s economy will make extra profits of 1.5 to 3 billion Euros this summer, and perhaps 8 billion Euros, or 0.36 per cent of last year’s GNP, on the long run. At the same time, the country’s ailing labour market may account for up to 30.000 new jobs, mainly in services, tourism, and construction. And altogether, a boost in consumer confidence and tourism is expected to further boost the economy’s modest upswing.

The thing is, all the economic benefits of hosting the World Cup appear as pale mathematics compared to a far more notable impact that this World Cup has had on Germany during the last couple of weeks: it seems as though there has been a change of hearts as Germans’ post-war reluctance to openly show patriotism or even pride has yielded to a rediscovery of their identity as a nation. In “A time to make friends”, which is the World Cup’s official slogan, Germans have warm-heartedly welcomed their guests from all over the world but at the same time responded in unceremonious ways to the foreign fans’ display of their national pride and symbols. As flags in black, red and gold flaunt on thousands of cars and 700.000 fans blissfully celebrate the German team’s victories on the strip between Berlin’s Siegessäule and the Brandenburg Gate, there seems to be more about these four weeks than just a never-ending party. Some commentators speak of a “cathartic moment” for Germany and are reminded of the summer of 1954 when a nation living ashamedly in the political and economic ruins of the terrible war it had itself ignited saw its own confidence, hopes and companionship grow with each victory on the way to the national team’s first World Cup title. For the moment, nobody cares about the government’s decision two days ago to raise value-added tax and health care premiums, or about the ongoing debate on the devastating state of the budget. These four weeks are about the German people as a harmonious entity in a state of collective exhilaration and hospitality.