It has been known, since November 2005, that the FIFA World Cup holders, Brazil, would be preparing for the Germany 2006 World Cup Finals in the lakeside village of Weggis; near Lucerne (Luzern), Switzerland.
From 22nd May to June 4th the Brazilian Seleção will be based in the Weggis Park Hotel before playing New Zealand (their final friendly match before travelling on to Germany to defend the FIFA World Cup) in the Stade de Genève; on Sunday, June 4th at 18:00.
Brazil will also be playing another friendly match while they are training in Switzerland, against an FC Luzern XI at Basle's St.-Jakob Park Stadium (Tuesday, May 30th at 20:30).
The Weggis Gemeinde has had the Brazilian flags flying for a while now and on Tuesday, 19th April local residents queued in the rain for the chance to snap up the first 7,000 tickets to watch the five-time FIFA World Champions train on their doorstep.
On a sunny Monday afternoon, April 24th, the rest of Switzerland had the chance to buy tickets for the Brazilian training sessions - one in the mornings (09:15) and one in the evenings (16:45) - with the sale of these tickets sold exclusively through mobilezone.
Although, predictably, long queues formed outside their shops in Luzern and Zug - the nearest cities to Weggis - the whole of Switzerland played the long waiting game.
Demand was so high that the computers crashed, or crawled slower than a referee blows a whistle when one sees 90 minutes on the clock. By four o'clock half of the 40,000 tickets had been sold. One man coming out of the Luzern shop, at 4 o'clock, had been waiting since half past eleven.
At the Seedam Centre, an hour away from Weggis, a Brazilian girl finally walked out with her tickets at half-past six; after waiting for over three hours.
Tickets, priced 20 Swiss francs each, were limited to four a person; although they could be purchased for different dates, or both training sessions on the same day.
Little did those with tickets know that the Thermoplan Arena, with an expected 5,000 seats, was still a building site; just 1 month before the Brazilian team were due to arrive.
Related Website:
Weggis Event.
By TravelNotes @ 10:00 pm
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Hey there!
Thanks for dropping by!
Cool report :-) Do you live in Weggis then? Seems like you've been blogging "from the frontline" ...
At any rate: Yeah, I guess I'll see you there, either at the game, or maybe at my Mom's Filipino stand, incase you drop by :-)
Greetings,
Carissa
No Carissa, I don't live in Weggis but I did drive there to take the photos before going to Luzern to see the large group waiting for tickets.
I then phoned the Mobilezone shop in Seedam Center (almost an hour from Luzern) and they told me there were less than 20 people there.
Even with 12 people in front of me when I got there, I still waited almost two hours because the reservation computers just couldn't hand the load of enquiries from all over Switzerland.
I was in Germany over Easter and am putting together World Cup updates for all the host cities.
It will be great to come and see Brazil train, just before the World Cup Finals actually start.
I'll look out for the Filipino stand.
I also hear they've laid the turf in Weggis now.
Hi Michel,
ah, I see...my Dad was kinda worried we wouldn't get any tickets anymore, with all those people queueing up in Lucerne (they missed the ddl to get them in Weggis). Luckily, both my sister and my brother fell in line, so in the end, we have enough tickets.
Laid the turf you say? I haven't been home in two weeks, so I'll check it out next time I'm home. Bet it looks great!
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