GERMANY: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - The small town of Billerbeck and the Weissenburg Hotel will be host to the Serbia and Montenegro football team during the World Cup tournament

Record ID: 671994

  • Title: GERMANY: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - The small town of Billerbeck and the Weissenburg Hotel will be host to the Serbia and Montenegro football team during the World Cup tournament
  • Date: 12th May 2006
  • Summary: PAN: ACROSS RESTAURANT TO FIREPLACE
  • Embargoed: 27th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA7GKBUOEFB49IP41YTLTSGAS1U
  • Story Text: The German town of Billerbeck is football crazy, and next month they will host the Serbia and Montenegro team during the World Cup.
    "I have to say, the entire hotel was really really excited when we found out that we were going to be having one of the teams here!", said Tinus Niehoff, the Director of the Weissenburg Hotel where they will be staying.
    "We are really excited! We have been involved with football players for a long time, the family are football-crazy, the hotel is football-crazy - through the various football teams who have stayed here over the years" he said on Tuesday (March 14).
    Dealing with football players is part of the day-to-day business of Niehoff and his team. The hotel is only 40 kilometres away from the Schalke 04 Arena in Gelsenkirchen, and for the last 20 years the team have prepared for their home matches in Billerbeck. Schalke 04 are one of Germany's most successful and most popular teams, so it is no surprise that the hotel staff are football-crazy.
    Originally Uruguay were supposed to be staying in the hotel, but the hotel's long-time connection with Schalke 04 brought the Serbia and Montenegro team to the Weissenburg Hotel. The team Captain Mladen Krstajic has been playing for Schalke for the last two years, so he had only good reports of these hotel. The rustical style could be reminiscent of either Germany or the Balkans - the hearty home-made food too.
    "As far as we know they won't have their own cook here, we have already discussed the food issue with the delegation, they have been here several times and they had a look around the kitchen and tried some of the meals, so that they know the menu and the house specialities, and it seems we have made a good impression," Niehoff said. "Now they will discuss it with the federation, and they will then agree on the menu, but we shall be cooking it ourselves here."
    The team will have the 75 room hotel exclusively for themselves, which will not only make it easier for them to enjoy the peace and quiet and to concentrate, it will also ease security concerns.
    "There are extensive security measures which we have to meet, they are being organised centrally by FIFA," Niehoff explained. "They will have a security agency, who already had a look at the house, the hotel grounds and the sports ground, and they will be responsible for all the security."
    Logistically the hotel is very well placed, it has adequate sports facilities nearby and the Muenster-Osnabrueck airport is only 25 minutes away. And the hotel is prepared, now it is up to the Serbia Montenegro team to see if they can match Schalke's record of success.
    Serbia and Montenegro will open their World Cup campaign against the Netherland on June the 6th. Concluding Group C are Argentina and Ivory Cost.
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