World Cup Schedule:
Berlin hosts four 1st round games, a quarter-final match and the 2006 World Cup Final in
the Olympiastadion - the home of Hertha
Berlin.
The refurbishment of Berlin's Olympic Stadium took four years
to complete and when it officially re-opened on 31st July, 2004 the stadium boasted a
capacity of 74,500 seats.
Sunday, 9th July 2006 World Cup Final Italy vs France (1:1 aet) (5:3 pens)
Italy win the World Cup for the 4th time.
Getting to the Stadium:
The S9 and S75 (direction Spandau) and the U2 (direction Ruhleben)
leave the Berlin Zoologischer Garten (Berlin's main train station) for Berlin's
Olympiastadion.
Trains run every 5-10 minutes and the journey takes about 13 minutes
to the stadium.
Berlin might seem a long way from the other World Cup venues,
apart from Leipzig, but it is once again Germany's capital and will of course hold the
World Cup Final on July 9th, 2006.
Berlin first became Germany's capital in 1871 but at the end of World
War II (on July 11th, 1945), the city was split up into four sectors: American, British,
French and Soviet; with the Soviet sector eventually becoming Communist East Berlin.
The capital of West Germany was moved to Bonn and remained there until
re-unification. On June 20th, 1991 the German Bundestag (Parliament's lower house) voted
to move the federal government back to Berlin.
It took eight years to get the city ready for the politicians and on
September 1st, 1999 Berlin was once again the seat of Germany's federal government.
A city state, located on the rivers Spree and Havel in the north-east
of Germany, Berlin is itself encircled by the state of Brandenburg.
BVG:
How to get around Berlin using public transport.
