World Cup 2006 | Weather and World Cup venues | How weather can affect the World Cup | UK Weather Links | World Weather Links
World Cup 2006
June 9 2006 marks the start of the most esteemed event on the football calendar - The World Cup. World countries from Iran to Italy, Saudi Arabia to South Korea Croatia to Costa Rica, have a chance to take part in the tournament but only 32 nations make it through to the qualifying rounds to be in with a chance of winning the World Cup silverware!
World Cup 2006 is being hosted in Germany across 12 sites Dortmund, Hamburg, Leipzig, Hanover, Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne Nuremburg, Kaiserslautern and Gelsenkirchen.
Weather wise Germany has a variable climate with frequent changes of weather from day to day. The character of individual summers may also be very different from year to year, depending on whether oceanic or continental influences dominate.
So what can we expect from the weather during this year's world cup?
Weather and World Cup venues
Venues situated around The North German Plain; including Hanover and Berlin could experience some rain during the World cup as summer in this area tends to be the wettest season. If you're heading to a game in Lepzig or Munich summers here are generally warm with reasonable amounts of sunshine, despite the heavier summer rainfall characteristic of The South and Central Hills. Cologne and Frankfurt situated in The North Rhineland region will also have a similar climate to that of The South and Central Hills.
Dortmund close to The North Rhineland region is known as Germany's "green metropolis". Nearly half of the municipal territory consists of waterways, woodland, agriculture and green spaces with spacious parks such as Westfalenpark and the Rombergpark - so if you are going to watch any of this year's world cup matches this would be an ideal spot for a few days rest and relaxation!
Hamburg, situated in the North-east, is one of the milder areas of Germany with up to six hours of warm sunshine every day during summer However weather can be variable at all seasons as the North-east coastlands are open to the influence of Atlantic storms so do take a brolly along!
How weather can affect the World Cup
Weather has an extremely interesting impact on football with a huge ability to help or hinder players whilst on the pitch. During the 1994 World cup hosted in the USA, a number of players from The Republic of Ireland, began to wilt in the hot summer temperatures as officials banned water being brought onto the pitch!
And back in 1974 the last time Germany hosted the World Cup officials attempted to feed weather data from the previous 100 years into a computer to predict the best rain-free four weeks for the 1974 World Cup. Inevitably, it turned out to be the most rain-sodden World Cup ever!
It is worth noting that no European team has ever won the World Cup when it has been hosted in South America yet only Brazil have won the World Cup in Europe. Could this be to do with the change in climate conditions?
Whatever the weather this famous competition holds great honour for footballers and fans alike across the globe.
UK Weather links
The 2006 World Cup will be broadcast on BBC big screens around the country
| Venue Details | City |
|---|---|
| Exchange Square | Manchester |
| Chamberlain Square | Birmingham |
| Queen Victoria Square | Hull |
| Millennium Square | Leeds |
| All Saints Square | Rotherham |
| Centenary Square | Bradford |
