Getting closer to home

France finish their group games against Togo on June 23 and for this game they come back to western Germany and Koln (Cologne) to play at the RheinEnergie Stadion, which FIFA are calling for the World Cup, FIFA Stadion Koln.

Guess you can’t have commercial tie-ups unless FIFA gets a cut.

It used to be called the Mungesdorfer Stadion but that was knocked down in 2001 and rebuilt and now holds 51,000 fans for Bundesliga games and 46,000 for World Cup matches.

It looks like it was designed by someone with a love of straight lines and right angles and the stand supports around the outside of the stadium seem to be inspired by a child’s meccano set. All the seats are undercover and the atmosphere inside is meant to be good.

Good news for visiting fans, Koln has more pubs per head of population than any other city in Germany so chances are you won’t go dry.

The stadium is also used by the Koln Centurions American Football team and for concerts, The Rolling Stones are due to play there in July and in 2010 it will host the opening of the Gay Games. What a shame that clashes with the World Cup in South Africa.

It could depending on results also be the place where Zinedine Zidane plays his last game.