Franz Beckenbauer, the president of the World Cup 2006 organizing committee, downplayed concerns relating to structural and other problems some of the stadiums are faced with. He told reporters that it was irresponsible to say that he was not concerned, but encouraged the media to take things into perspective when doing their reports on the issue.

"It is natural that we have a few blips along the way, it's like a teething process and was to be expected. We have had problems in Nuremburg, etc., but we have corrected these things. The overall assessment by the FIFA president (Sepp Blatter) has been very positive I think," Beckenbauer said.

Beckenbauer admitted that there are 3 main issues of concern. Stadium structural problems, world cup ticket sales and security.

One of the incidents that drew media attention was that part of the roof of Frankfurt's Waldstadion tore during the 2005 Confederations Cup Final back in June. The situation allowed rain to pour onto the pitch.

Another was related to Nuremburg's Frankenstadion, where in November fans managed to cause cracks in the concrete walls of the stadium. The most recent incident was related to a German Bundesliga match, which had to be cancelled because of the cracks in the roof.

Horst Schmidt, organizing committee vice president in charge of security appeared confident that any problems will be resolved by next summer.

"We can say with a great deal of pride that we are in good shape far ahead of the World Cup. There are few organizing committees of events of this calibre that can say as much. By the end of this year all stadiums will be fully functional and ready to host the World Cup. Of course we have had some problems, but it is minor considering the scope of the tournament. These stadiums will be functional and operating as they should be by the time the tournament kicks off," Schmidt said.

He added that renovation works will begin after the last Bundesliga match on the 13th of May. Relating to security concerns, he told media representatives that once England and the Netherlands are drawn into their groups, the organising committee will develop concrete security plans to avoid any trouble with fans. There was also a meeting with the Athens 2004 Olympics Security Committee, where intelligence and knowhow exchanged hands.

Regarding the injury sustained by Hamburg's Alexander Laas when a fan threw a drum stick in a Bundesliga match, Schmidt said that nets will be raised behind the goalposts to ensure this incident does not get repeated.

Rejecting Blatter's criticism of the tickets sale process, who said that the German organisers were complicating the process by trying to be too perfect, Schmidt said that the organising committee will keep it's planned process in place, with named tickets allocated to fans in order to avoid ticket touts and fraud.

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