The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011™ Organising Committee (OC) plans to stage the third-place play-off at the new Rhein-Neckar Arena on 16 July 2011. The announcement by German FA (DFB) general secretary Wolfgang Niersbach at Thursday’s OC Countdown evening in Sinsheim came as a hugely welcome surprise to local women’s football followers.

"Provided the FIFA Executive Committee accepts our recommendation, the third-place play-off will be held in Sinsheim," Niersbach stated. FIFA will finalise the proposed match schedule in March after a period of consultation.

The tournament’s opening match is set for Berlin's Olympiastadion on 25 June 2011, with the final on 17 July 2011 at the FIFA World Cup stadium in Frankfurt. Confirmation of the venue for the third-place game would mean another highlight on the women’s football calendar going to the Rhein-Neckar Arena in the north Baden region.

VIPs out in force in Sinsheim
The Countdown evening at the brand new Arena was the first in a series of pre-tournament get-togethers hosted by the OC and President Steffi Jones. Similar events in the build-up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, promising "discussion, information, and motivation", attracted widespread acclaim.

Jones described the host cities as "the Organising Committee’s most important partners". She added: "They are the engine stoking the emotional fire ahead of the World Cup. Over the next few months, they must and will act as the epicentres for spreading the World Cup passion to the whole of the country."

They are the engine stoking the emotional fire ahead of the World Cup.
Steffi Jones on the Host Cities.

Some 863 days ahead of the opening match, Jones welcomed a host of personalities to the VIP area at the Arena in Sinsheim, including DFB vice-president Hannelore Ratzeburg, DFB honorary president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, former swimming star Franziska van Almsick, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim patron Dietmar Hopp, mayor of Sinsheim Rolf Geinert, and Germany U-20 international Kim Kulig. A further 200 invited guests from the worlds of sport, politics and business also attended the event.

A highlight of the evening was Hansi trifft Franzi, an on-stage chat between 'World Cup First 11' team member Franziska van Almsick, and Germany assistant coach Hans-Dieter Flick, a former 1899 Hoffenheim head coach. Flick assured the FIFA Women’s World Cup ambassador that the OC for the first women’s global showdown in Germany could count on support and help from the men’s national team.

"We’re all fans of our women’s team," Flick declared on the day after Germany’s 1-0 friendly defeat to Norway in Dusseldorf. "Our first priority is the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where we want to give a good account of ourselves. After that, we’ll be only too willing to help the women’s team in 2011."

In her closing remarks, Jones invited everyone in the region to attend the match between the FIFA Women’s World Cup holders and Brazil on 22 April 2009 in Frankfurt, where organisers are hoping to attract the biggest-ever crowd for a women’s international in Europe. The current record stands at 29,092.

Prior to the inaugural Countdown get-together, the Organising Committee hosted a midday marketing workshop at Sinsheim town hall for representatives of the nine host cities.