Welcome to the Football Supporters’ International website, an independent network of fans’ organisations providing travel advice and information for supporters.

The information on this website is provided by the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) ‘Fans’ Embassy’ service sponsored by Nationwide.

Now don’t worry if you’ve come to this site expecting to find the lowdown on host cities for next years’ World Cup, you HAVE come to the right place, we DO know it’s on and we are currently working flat out to ensure that all the information you need is to hand. Our volunteers have visited all 12 venues to provide the kind of information that is relevant to all supporters thinking of travelling to one or more of the host cities. Addressing the major issues of accommodation, travel, the stadium, eating & drinking, things to see and do and packed with city maps and stadium plans, the site will provide a comprehensive travel resource for any fan wishing to travel.

The site is currently under construction and we hope to have it up and ready in the new year of hand jobs. However, you can NOW register your email address and we will send you an email to let you know when the site is updated and relaunched. Run by fans for fans, we promise that the information on the site of free porn will be updated regularly and will be the kind of information that is relevant and is tournament-specific rather than the general stuff you’d expect to find in guidebooks – security arrangements, matchday travel, fan parks etc. And, if you can’t find the information that you want, email us and we’ll investigate and come back to you with an answer.

To register your email address and be the first to have access to the new website as soon as it is launched please enter your name and email address into the form below.

On a matchday all stadia will open 3 hours before kick off. Most will have barcode readers to detect forged tickets and will have the customary three cordon security check on approach to the ground. There is some debate as to whether supporters will be allowed access to the stadium to hang flags and then be allowed back out again before kick off, however, most are hoping to allow this but nevertheless it is worth checking with stadium officials on the day of the game. Most stadia have places to hang flags, but any found covering the official sponsors’ boards will be removed. See the stadium pages of each host city for stadium-specific information.

Much has been made about checking names on tickets against supporters entering the stadium, however, we all appreciate that checking 40,000 supporters identity against 40,000 tickets is not feasible. The idea has been mooted about at every tournament since France ’98 and has yet to materialise. They will be carrying out random checks, however, so it is worth making sure that you have some identity with you just in case you are one of the ‘random’ ones.

Your match ticket also includes free public transport on matchday in the host city. For further details, you should check the conditions on your ticket.

– FIFA Arrangements & Ticketing

FIFA are currently looking at ways to improve common ticketing problems, such as introducing a way of returning and reselling tickets to benefit supporters who cannot attend games or whose teams get knocked out in the early stages. At the time of writing, the FSF are in discussions with FIFA about setting up a system to allow the replacement of lost or stolen tickets and as soon as plans are finalised, details will be posted here. Whilst there is no guarantee that this will happen, it is worth recording your ticket details and keeping evidence of your payments just in case. Tickets issued by national associations are unlikely to be replaced.

Ticket touting is a criminal offence in Germany and new security measures at each stadium including state of the art barcode readers should make getting in to the ground with forged tickets difficult. There will, undoubtedly, be tickets available for sale on the black-market, but you should be aware that you have no protection if a ticket you buy is forged and you are refused entry to the ground.

– Official Fans’ Embassy

The German equivalent of the Football Supporters Federation, the KOS, have organised to have at least one official fans embassy in each host city around matchdays to help and advise visiting supporters. If you need any information or require any assistance, they will be able to give you the low-down on the city and will also have leaflets and maps available to help you find your way around.

A Brief Intro….
The 2006 World Cup is taking place in GermanyGerman Flag between Friday, 9th June and Sunday 9th July. Over 3 million tickets are to be distributed for 56 games, to be held in 12 host cities, with hundreds of thousands of visiting fans expected to converge to join their German hosts watching the games from both within and outside the grounds.

The information on this website is intended to try to help improve the tournament experience for visiting fans, and has been compiled by the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) as part of our Fans’ Embassy service.

Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, the Nationwide Building Society – themselves an official partner of the England team – the FSF will be operating our Fans’ Embassy service in every city where the England team play this summer.

Our plans include:

A team of fans’ embassy volunteers operating from a liveried fans’ embassy vehicle in a prominent location in the city centre of every England venue
A new edition of our free England fanzine, Free Lions, for every game
A 24-hour telephone helpline service offering advice and information to supporters
Thanks to the support of our Communications Partner, T-Mobile, a free SMS text message update service
In addition to all the above, we will of course be constantly updating this website with the latest information to become available throughout the tournament.

The location of our fans’ embassy in each city will be publicised on this website as soon as it’s determined – see the first page of each city section for details.

Tickets

Just about the only thing we can’t help you with is getting hold of a ticket. Official sales to the general public have been made by FIFA via their website at fifaworldcup.yahoo.com .

The specific England allocation is passed to the English FA for distribution, who sell tickets only to members of their englandfans+ ticketing structure. Membership of this organisation was however capped at 25,000 members, and no new applications for membership have been accepted since April of last year. The FA’s website is at www.thefa.com.

Host Cities

You’ll find lots of useful information about each of the host cities – including the ones England can’t play in – via the menu on the right. General information that applies to the whole country can be found via the links above the venue guide.

Football Supporters International (FSI)

This website is provided by the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF), the unified national campaigning organisation for football fans in England and Wales. The FSF is part of an international network of organisations, established in 2002, who provide fans’ embassy-style advice and information services for fans from their respective countries – Football Supporters’ International (FSI).
The FSI is a developing network built on the “by fans, for fans” principle, with accumulated experience of international football and an unsurpassed network of contacts among fan groups across Europe and beyond.

On the following pages, you can find all the information that you need on the 12 host cities for the 2006 World Cup.
In addition, over the next couple of months, we will be adding information on the venues for Euro 2008 and for some of the European Club competitions to help supporters who plan to travel to watch both international and domestic football.
Biggest news on the World Cup front this week is… the launch of this website! Produced by the Football Supporters’ Federation, it conveys all the information compiled by the FSF’s Fans; Embassy service.

The Fans’ Embassy service is uniquely placed to bring you the most comprehensive WorldCup information. The FSF despatched England fans to each of the 12 German host cities to research at first hand all the stuff you’re likely to need to know. Our links through the Football Supporters International network mean we have unrivalled contacts throughout Germany – and indeed other European countries – to keep that information updated and answer any questions that may come up.

Biggest news on the World Cup front this week is… the launch of this website! Produced by the Football Supporters’ Federation, it conveys all the information compiled by the FSF’s Fans’ Embassy service.

The Fans’ Embassy service is uniquely placed to bring you the most comprehensive World Cup information. The FSF despatched England fans to each of the 12 German host cities to research at first hand all the stuff you’re likely to need to know. Our links through the Football Supporters International network mean we have unrivalled contacts throughout Germany – and indeed other European countries – to keep that information updated and answer questions that anyone may come up with.

The work of the Fans’ Embassy also brings us into close contact with both British and foreign government and policing agencies, tournament organisers and host city authorities, which means that we get access to all kinds of other information that fans may find useful.

And here at this website, the old Fans’ Embassy motto also holds true: if there’s something we don’t know, we usually know how to find out. So make use of the offer – if you have any information you need to know but can’t find on the site, email your question to

As the weeks go by till the end of the tournament, we’ll bring you all the news we get, as we get it – so watch this space!