Big biz books FIFA

Host nation Germany kick off the 64-match tournament against Costa Rica in the spectacular high-tech Munich stadium, starting the ball rolling on a month of action to decide the winners of a trophy which remains the pinnacle of footballing achievement.

Yet days before the big kick-off, there have been complaints from the German organisers that the marketing of this tournament has reached unacceptable levels.

Polls in Germany have shown that the public is growing sick of World Cup-related advertising and product tie-ins. US brewing giant Anheuser-Busch paid 40 million dollars (31 million euros) to be one of the 2006 World Cup’s 15 official sponsors, sparking outrage in Germany where all but one local beer will be banned from the stadiums in favour of Budweiser. Franz Becken-bauer, the head of the World Cup organising committee, called for football to be “cleaned up” because he was afraid the sport was selling its soul to big business. “We need to talk about the limits of money-making.”

FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who has seen the amount of money paid by the World Cup sponsors rise sharply in his eight years at the helm, said the accusations were untrue.

“This is not about the commercialisation of football,” Blatter said in an interview with the Tagesspiegel newspaper.

“What is important is a partnership between football, the economy and television which benefits all sides.” But he indicated that changes to the marketing of the World Cup would be made after the finals in Germany.

“We will aim for the optimum, not the maximum,” the 70-year-old former Swiss lawyer said.