ABSTRACT
Between 9 June and 9 July 2006, the FIFA World Cup 2006 (hereafter World Cup) dramatically changed public life in most German cities. In the media, the temporary reign of football over Germany’s city centres has been most powerfully visualised through spectacular images of tens of thousands of mostly peaceful football fans on so-called ‘public viewing sites’ or ‘fan miles’, which was later named Germany’s Word of the Year 2006.
