Germany not to bid to host Euro2020

The German Football Association (DFB) has decided against bidding to host the 2020 European Championships. The reason behind the decision was that the DFB thinks that other countries should have the right to host the continental football championship after the nation successfully hosted the 2006 FIFA World Cup and 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.

"The thought of having the best teams from across the continent and their fans in Germany is of course very attractive. But after we have hosted the World Cups in 2006 and 2011, it is the good right of other countries to take on the role of hosts," DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach explained the decision by the federation.

So far only Turkey has formally bid to host Euro2020 with the application phase for national football associations set to end on May 15. And with Germany pulling out this does increase Turkey's chances of hosting the tournament for which the nations has bid thrice unsuccessfully in the past.

But surely Germany could be a candidate to host the European Championship in 2024 or 2028 if the DFB thinks it suits its plans.

VIDEO: Most bizarre Handball ever in Football...

We have seen handballs in football over the years, mostly they are given by the referee's but sometimes the men and women with the whistle just simply judge the situation wrong or miss a handball.

Yesterday afternoon at the 2011 FIFA Women's World in Germany one could see the most bizarre cases of handball in the match Australia vs Equatorial Guinea at the Ruhrstadion in Bochum.

An attempt by Australia striker Leena Khamis hit the post, then Equatorial Guinea defender Bruna picked up the ball on the rebound and held it in both hands for several seconds before dropping it for the keeper to pick up. Surprisingly neither Hungarian referee Gyoengyi Gaal or her assistants apparently witnessed the incident and Australia's pleas for a penalty were rejected.

Here a video clip of the incidence:

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup: Are you watching?

I guess many of you will not even know but currently the sixth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup is being held in Germany which runs from June 26 to July 17 across the country. The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup kicked-off last Sunday in Berlin infront of a record sellout crowd of 73,680 spectators with the hosts and defending champions Germany beating Canada 2-1.

TV ratings showed that Germany's first match peaked at more than 18 Millions viewers on television, a new alltime record for women's football in Germany. And it seems the 2006 FIFA World Cup fever is back again five years after the men's tournament had been held here.

Later today Germany take on Nigeria at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt with another sellout crowd of 48,837 and it will be shown on prime time television with a 20.45 CET kick-off.

Women's football has come a long way in Germany and with a title hattrick possible the interest level in women's football has reached unprecidented levels. But even if one feels, sees and reads the craze about the tournament here in Germany one asks if it is the same elsewhere.

e.g. did Mexico realise that their women holding England to a one-all draw in their opening match was a major surprise, while the Under-17 FIFA World Cup is being held in the Latin American nation. Or will South America really bother about their women's football with the Copa America set to kick-off tomorrow?

Sadly all these tournaments have to be organised parallel in the summer break with the CONCACAF Gold Cup having only ended last week, which does take the limelight away from the women's game, who get limited coverage during a football season. The women deserve the attention and publicity then women's football at the World Cup is surely something to watch.

Who will be the new 'Paul' the octopus?

One of the things which we remember from last years 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa was Paul the octopus and his predictions about Germany matches from an Aquarium in Oberhausen. But Paul died late last year, so now the search is on for the new Paul for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany which kicks-off tomorrow.

Interesting Sealife, who housed Paul in their aquarium in Oberhausen, have started a contest amongst their octopus' in different Sealife Aquariums across Germany. Eight Octopus are now taking part in predicting the games of the German Women's national team.

But can Paul be really replaced? We will only know in a few weeks time, but with Germany being the two time defending champions and having not conceded a goal in China four years ago it wouldn't that difficult to pick a winner. And the uniqueness of Paul's achievement is lost in such a competition, but maybe I am proved wrong and we have another phenomenon as Paul in this tournament.


Here a report my colleague Ragini Kumar and I did last year about Paul the octopus for Times Now

Special VIP enclosure at Frankfurt Stadium for Blatter denied

It is one of the weirdest stories I have heard in recent times. According to German media reports there had been a request from FIFA to the German FA (DFB) to rebuild the VIP enclosure at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt as the FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter would like to sit on the middle line at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup final on July 17.

This is not possible at the Frankfurt ground due to a staircase going through down the middle, which would have split the VIP enclosure into two halves and that is not wanted. The FIFA requested the DFB to change this, which would only be possible at a cost of 18,000 Euros which FIFA wasn't willing to pay.

The so-called 'Blatter-Block' affair was stopped on Friday by DFB president Dr. Theo Zwanziger once he got to know about these crazy plans. He sorted it out in a conversation with FIFA Women's head Tatjana Haenni.

Zwanziger said, "When I heard about the plans it was immediately clear to me that these plans would not be implemented. With all due respect to structural measures, which we the DFB also carry out for the German Cup and international matches, at some point a limit is reached. We will present ourselves in Frankfurt as suitable hosts though a staircase will go through the middle of the VIP enclosure."

FIFA withdrew its request, while the criticism against FIFA and its president grows further with such weird requests.