A jury had previously selected a shortlist of five posters from among some 900 entries. The jury was made up of Franz Beckenbauer, FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi, president of the German Conference of Cities Petra Roth, and three art experts, Professor Uwe Loesch, Professor Kurt Weidemann and Professor Armin Lindauer.
“It is the first time that the people in the host country have had something to say in the choice of the official poster. The German fans have made a good choice. The winning entry will no doubt serve as a splendid visiting card for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ that is due to kick off in 617 days,” declared Lennart Johansson, chairman of the Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup™.
The picture highlights the significance and sparkle of the event as well as the fascination of football in a very emotive way. “The idea itself and the way it has been depicted appealed to us. Portraying the starry sky as a football is a new idea with potent symbolism. The poster also attracted me emotionally because, for me, football is all about emotion and passion,” said Franz Beckenbauer, president of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee Germany.
FIFA and the organising committee had jointly put out tenders for the design of the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ official poster. Almost 50,000 phone calls and text messages were received during the five-day voting period. T-Com waived the normal charge of 49 cents per call and text message, donating all the proceeds to the “6 villages for 2006” Official Charity Campaign. FIFA Organising Committee chairman Lennart Johansson and DFB President Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder handed the cheque to Georg Willeit, manager of the Hermann Gmeiner Foundation GmbH in Germany.
The artwork agency:
WE DO communication GmbH was founded by general managers Gregor C. Blach and Christoph Scheller in January 2002. Their Berlin agency’s work concentrates on developing creative communications and advertising strategies as well as designing images and logos.
FIFA is currently evaluating the public voting process, going through all the entries with complete name and address details. Consecutively, the WINNERS ONLY will be contacted by mail within the next 3-4 weeks.
■ http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/
