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East shunned as World Cup teams seek German bases
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-19 09:32

BERLIN, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Want to avoid the World Cup next year? Eastern Germany could be the ideal destination.

Germany will host the month-long tournament from June and organisers hope the celebrations will be spread across the reunited country.

Twenty-six of the 32 participating teams have already chosen their World Cup bases. None, however, will be in East Germany.

True, the eastern city of Leipzig will be the scene of four opening-phase matches and a last-16 clash, but critics argue it is an oasis in a barren land.

The capital, in the east, will also stage five games including the final, as well as hosting the German national side, but this will all take place in former West Berlin.

Champions and favourites Brazil will be near Frankfurt, Argentina will be in northern Bavaria and France near Hamelin, famed for its rat-catching Pied Piper.

Rainer Milkoreit, director of the sports academy in eastern Bad Blankenburg, said Togo and Australia had expressed interest in coming, but the African newcomers will be by the Austrian border, while Australia will play only in southern Germany.

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"It seems the east isn't attractive for these teams. But it's hard to understand. Many of our facilities are much more modern than those in the west," Milkoreit said.

"It's supposed to be a World Cup of united Germany, but that's not recognised by the teams."

The city of Magdeburg, whose local side won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1974, was still holding out hope of attracting Angola or Ukraine.

Local media thought the eastern city had landed Ivory Coast earlier this month, but the African government official they referred to turned out to be a fraudster.

"Of course it is for the national football associations to decide," said Rudiger Koch, Magdeburg council's head of culture, said. "But I would personally find it regrettable if the new (eastern) states were not represented."

The east has been a poor relation to the affluent west. More than one million people have moved out since reunification in 1990 and unemployment is almost double the level of that in the west despite billions of euros poured in to smarten up town centres and improve infrastructure.
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