Monchengladbach is a special place for German FA (DFB) President Dr Theo Zwanziger. Of the 26,000 clubs affiliated to the organisation he heads, three occupy a special place in his emotions: his home club VfL Altendiez, Women’s Bundesliga high-flyers Turbine Potsdam, and taking pride of place, Borussia Monchengladbach. Naturally enough, Dr Zwanziger was thoroughly dismayed at being unable to attend when the OC came to the town for its latest Countdown event on Thursday evening.
The association president’s attachment to the club, where he has been a loyal fan for close on 50 years, was made clear in a personal message of greeting, preceding a short film portraying Monchengladbach as a city dedicated to sport and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011™. Borussia Park plays host to three highly attractive matches at the tournament next summer, including a match featuring Germany, and one of the semi-finals.
"The superb stadium in Monchengladbach will host three fantastic games, this much is already clear,” Dr. Zwanziger said, "and it’s a chance for all of us to send out a very special signal supporting girls’ and women’s football in the Lower Rhine region. 2011 can establish a sustainable base for women’s football in the future."
The first FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany is a collaborative effort, in which everyone has a part to play. This keynote thought was emphatically driven home on Thursday in Monchengladbach, the most westerly of the host cities. Wolfgang Niersbach, standing in at short notice after OC President Steffi Jones was forced to withdraw with illness, welcomed VIP representatives of a host of leading local and regional organisations, including Mayor Norbert Bude, Lower Rhine FA President and chairman of the OC Monchengladbach satellite office Walter Huetzen, and Borussia President Rolf Koenigs. The DFB General Secretary also greeted FIFA World Cup winner Rainer Bonhof, and leading members of the Germany women’s national set-up, including team manager Doris Fitschen.
"We want the local people to revel in this fantastic event, and this World Cup will be a fantastic event. However, we’ll only live up to our role as hosts if we do it together,” Niersbach said in his introductory remarks. "But what’s been achieved in Monchengladbach so far makes me confident the three matches here will be a terrific experience." The relaxed and thoroughly entertaining Countdown represented a first highlight on the road to the global festival of the women’s game for more than 300 invited guests.
With the addition of certain temporary structures specifically for the 2011 finals, Borussia Park will boast a capacity of 47,000 next year. Alongside Berlin and Frankfurt, venues for the opening match and the final respectively, Monchengladbach is one of the three large-capacity stadiums for the 6th FIFA Women’s World Cup from 26 June to 17 July 2011. For Germany and coach Silvia Neid, Monchengladbach could well prove a vital location in the quest to retain the prestigious trophy. The holders will contest the last of their three group fixtures at the stadium on 5 July 2011. Should they finish runners-up in their group and then win their quarter-final tie in Leverkusen four days later, Borussia Park would provide their semi-final stage on 13 July, when the hosts would set about booking a place in the final.
"As we set out on the road to the final, the team knows it can rely on the fans in Gladbach, profiting to the maximum from the terrific atmosphere here. In the build-up to the World Cup, we’re restricted to playing friendlies, as we’ve qualified automatically as hosts. We’re taking on strong teams here in Germany. The advantage is that we can acclimatise to the atmosphere, and play our part in building it up,” commented 144-time international Fitschen.
Duisburg starlet Alexandra Popp is among the players hoping to taste the atmosphere at first hand. Rated one of the most talented prospects in the German game, Popp made her senior international debut the day before as a sub in a 3-0 victory over Korea DPR, and a sight of Borussia Park made her even more determined to earn an active role in 2011: "There’s no way I’m going to let up now, but first of all we have the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany this summer. We’re determined to lift that trophy too."
Given the exciting and high-quality match schedule, Monchengladbach is set to be a crowd magnet at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011. On that note, and the day before the Countdown get-together, the OC officially opened the second ticket sales phase with the launch of group tickets. Featuring a "9 pay, 11 go" discount offer, the "20ELF-Ticket" is initially exclusively available to members of registered DFB clubs, naturally encompassing the myriad clubs based in and around Monchengladbach.
"Everyone should be part of it in 2011, when the world comes together for another major festival of football. As this will be a collective effort, we see it as a logical step to offer group tickets to DFB members at fair prices in an exclusive sales phase. The new tickets are available for all the games, including the opening match featuring Germany in Berlin on 26 June,” Niersbach explained during a relaxed panel discussion chaired by OC media director Jens Grittner. The DFB General Secretary voiced hopes that the excellent levels of demand, which saw some 200,000 of the total of 700,000 match tickets sold as city series tickets in the first sales phase, will continue into the new phase.
Popularity quaranteed
The leading representatives of the city have no doubt whatsoever that Monchengladbach will prove a hugely popular venue at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011. "I’m utterly convinced we’ll sell out the ground for all three matches,” Mayor Bude declared. "I promised Dr. Zwanziger two things. On the one hand, we’ll fill the place three times, and on the other hand, we’ll do everything we can to boost the standing of women’s football - in Germany in general and specifically in Monchengladbach. And we’ll keep our promises," Borussia boss Koenigs added.
Borussia vice-president Rainer Bonhof, capped 53 times by his country and a FIFA World Cup™ winner in 1974, said he would interpret his role as World Cup ambassador for the city "to draw everyone in my wide circle of friends and acquaintances to the stadium. But the fans here won’t let us down, I know that already.” His fellow ambassador Dunja Hayali concurred: "I’m already sensing huge interest,” she commented, "and once we have the 2010 World Cup behind us, the 2011 boom will gather in intensity."
Whatever the case, Dr. Theo Zwanziger has vowed a reunion in Monchengladbach on 5 July next year at the latest. "Under no circumstances am I going to miss our team’s performances at the World Cup – and most definitely not when they play at the new Gladbach Arena,” the DFB President promised in his message to the Countdown. Regardless of the team, “his” Borussia or Neid’s cracks, Monchengladbach was, is and will remain a place of pilgrimage for Dr Zwanziger. He would normally have been present in person – and the Germany stars assuredly will be present in person in their trek towards the final on home soil. Rainer Bonhof said he could already imagine a headline at the conclusion to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011: "Theo Zwanziger drowns in champagne!"
