Ivory Coast instead of Egypt at the VELTINS Arena
20.10.2009
Germany will contest their final international of 2009 against Ivory Coast in Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday, 18 November. The Africans, who like the Germans have also qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, replace the original opponents, Egypt.
The switch became necessary because the reigning African champions do not play their all-important World Cup qualifier against Algeria until 14 November. Should they win this game by two goals, they will contest a play-off on 18 November, again against Algeria. "This situation meant there were simply too many planning uncertainties for the game in Gelsenkirchen. We therefore reached an amicable agreement with the Egyptian FA allowing us to find different opponents for this date", explained Wolfgang Niersbach, general secretary of the German Football Association (DFB).
Under the stewardship of Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic, Ivory Coast are so far undefeated in the World Cup qualifying campaign and include world stars such as Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Kolo Touré (Manchester City), Yaya Touré (Barcelona) und Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal) in their ranks. They also have players with clubs in Germany such as Guy Demel (Hamburg SV), Boubacar Sanogo (Werder Bremen), Arthur Boka (VfB Stuttgart), Steve Gohouri (Borussia Mönchengladbach) and Stephan Loboué (Greuther Fürth).
"We specifically targeted African opposition for the game in November because we feel it is important for us to contest a friendly against a team from this continent en route to the World Cup in South Africa", said Germany boss Joachim Löw. "I'm therefore glad that the DFB managed to arrange the game against the Ivorians at short notice. It will be genuine test for us because Ivory Coast bring together everything African football has to offer - technique, dynamism, creativity and passion, but also good discipline and tactical organisation."
All tickets already sold for this fixture will, of course, retain their validity. Tickets for this match and the clash with Chile in Cologne on 14 November can be purchased through the usual channels on www.dfb.de or by dialling the DFB ticket hotline (0 18 05/11 02 01).
