Federal Interior Minister Schäuble and OC President Beckenbauer: "Conditions for a successful Football World Cup have been created".

The Progress Report had before been discussed and approved by the Federal Cabinet. It had been drafted - as had been the six previous reports - by the 2006 World Cup Office, which lies in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, in cooperation with all federal ministries, the Federal Chancellery, the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, and other Federal Government partners.

"The Federal Government, the Federal Länder, the venue cities, other partners, and above all the Organizing Committee headed by Franz Beckenbauer have created the conditions for a successful World Cup. Germany is well-prepared. We are looking forward to our guests, the world’s best football teams, and the kick-off on 9 June 2006", said Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. The government guarantees which Germany promised FIFA in its bid to host the World Cup have been fulfilled precisely on time. This includes e.g. the customer-oriented issue of visas, labour law regulations, customs and tax provisions, anthems and flags (including the discharge of protocol tasks) and of course security matters.

Schäuble pointed out the numerous measures taken as part of the Federal Government’s World Cup hosting concept: "With the campaign to promote Germany as a place to do business and the image campaign - "Germany - a Land of Ideas", the national service and hospitality campaign, and the artistic and cultural programme we have promoted Germany as the host country with our partners for several years, both at home and abroad. The World Cup’s official slogan "A time to make friends" - has been lived long before the first kick-off. More than 100,000 volunteers and service ambassadors will have been trained before the initial kick-off to welcome and support World Cup guests in a friendly manner. We are very well prepared, and hope this also applies to the German national team: We keep our fingers crossed for the tournament, and wish Jürgen Klinsmann every success. May the best team win!", said the Interior Minister.

Franz Beckenbauer appreciated the cooperation between the Federal Government and the Organizing Committee, which had been good and trusting ever since Germany was awarded this year’s World Cup in the year 2000: "Nowadays it would be impossible to launch such a large-scale event without public support. My heartfelt thanks go to all those involved, also for the enormous efforts which have been made in the venue cities."

Federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and OC President Franz Beckenbauer welcomed the national team of Anguilla as special surprise guests after the press conference. The team is staying in Germany for a few weeks as part of the service and hospitality campaign. "Germany literally rolls out the red carpet not only for the world’s best football teams, but also for the team from Anguilla, thus a team that did not stand a realistic chance of qualifiying for the World Cup. We are delighted to be able to show the players from Anguilla our country", said Schäuble.