For part 22 of the series, Paraguayan lawyer Daniel Brunetti (who is blogging at Paraguay World Cup Blog) joins us. Currently, he is finishing his masters degree at Georgetown University in Washington DC. But what Daniel really is, is a football addict fan. His priorities goes first the national team of Paraguay and second his club Olimpia. For more on Daniel, check out his profile at World Cup Blog.

I thank Daniel for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Paraguay football history and the football culture which exists.

In Paraguay you don’t feel the football, you breathe it. The football is the number one sport of the nation. In each neighbourhood there are at least one football field, and even if you don’t have a near field, every place could transform it in a huge stadium for the people. We have two big teams down there, Olimpia (Libertadores Cup Champions, 1979, 1990, 2001) and Cerro Porteno. They are like the Boca-River of Argentina. But when it comes to cheer for the national team, all the people put on the national shirts.

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Brian Priddy joins us from France for part 21 of the series. Brian was born in the States but has been living in France for 15 years, and his life as a football supporter starts from a couple of years after that. What was at first just a replacement for baseball or gridiron has now become his great sports passion. Nothing can compare with “the beautiful game”, Brian says. And he is right!

I thank Brian for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the French football history and the football culture which exists.

France is a much greater sporting country than their record might indicate. The modern olympics, the champions league and the world cup were all dreamed up and instituted by the French! This great love of sports is spread over several disciplines: rugby, basketball, cycling, even fencing, sailing and judo get big sports page coverage, but except for the rugby-loving southwest, football is king.

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For part 20 of the series, Mihajlo V joins us. Mihajlo is 20 years old and lives in Canada, but was born in Serbia, and follows the team closely. I thank him for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Serbia and Montenegro football history and the football culture which exists.

Serbia and Montenegro is one of 5 teams to emerge from the break up of Yugoslavia, which was a nation with great football pedigree. Serbia and MOntenegro competed in the 1998 World Cup, as well as the EURO2000, although under the name of Yugoslavia. Each time, they were eliminated in teh second round. The Serbo-Montenegrin players are known as great technicians and dribblers. Some of the best players to ever come out of Serbia and Montenegro are: Dragan Dzajic, Dragoslav Sekularac, Dragan Stojkovic, Dejan Savicevic, Predrag Mijatovic, Vladimir Jugovic, Vladimir Petrovic, and Velibor Vasovic.

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Abdullah Aleisa from Saudi Arabia joins us for part 19 of the series. Abdullah is from Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. In his own words, he is “a Saudi national team fan who cares alot about the National Team, and I hope the best for my national team. I am counting the days till we play our first game against Tunisia, June 14, and think of this WC as a to be or not to be situation for Saudi Arabia.”

I thank Abdullah for agreeing to the interview. Over to the interview:

Tell us a bit about Saudi Arabia’s football history and the football culture which exists.

Saudi Arabia football history is short compared to others. It began in the 50s, and soon by 1959 there was a Saudi Football Federation. But it took 10 years, around 1970 to actually begin growing. At that time, the NT was rather weak, got easily smashed by other Arab teams, which is nothing like present-day Saudi Arabian team. In the 70s, many young boys took interest into football, and soon it turned into a normal activity, which boys would do after school. In the 70s, there was a league, but it was mostly derby games that were important. They were Hilal x Nasr, from Riyadh, and Ittihad x Ahli from Jeddah. There were some other young derbies from other cities too. By 1980, Saudi football was able to pump out some very good players.

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For part 18 of the series, I caught up with Roger Gamper from Switzerland. Roger, 32, loves sports in general but his favourite is, of course, football. Unfortunately, his favourite team in the Swiss national league, Servette Geneva, went bankrupt one year ago and they now have a long way back to the top. Roger keeps following football though like trillions of others in the world do.

I thank Roger for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Swiss football history and the football culture which exists.

In 1879 the first Swiss football club was founded, FC St.Gallen. So, Switzerland was one of the first countries having football clubs. The Swiss football association was founded in 1895 and Grasshoppers became the first official national champions in 1898. In the World Cup, Switzerland has reached the quarter finals 3 times. The last time was in 1954 when Switzerland lost 5-7 to Austria in the quarter final with the Swiss keeper suffering from a sunstroke. Football surely is the preffered sports of the Swiss, however it isn’t as important in our country as elsewhere. First of all, Switzerland is a very polysportive country and football has a lot of concurrence. Then, it is considered much more important to focus on a good school education as the job market is quite good in the country and a lot of young players give up football to continue the studies.

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Stephen Appiah

For part 17 of the series, I caught up with Joseph Epton from Ghana. Apart from being a student , Joseph scouts young football talents and helps assist them in developing a professional football career. So he does know a bit more football than your average arm chair/internet critic you find these days!

I thank Joseph for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Ghana football history and the football culture which exists

Ghana, the first country south of the Saharan Africa to attain independence, lies on the west coast of Africa and its bordered on the East by Togo, the West by Cote d; Ivory and on the North by Burkina Faso.

Football is the number 1 sports in Ghana and serves as a source of pleasure and entertainment for many Ghanaians. Ghanaians are very passionate about football are heart broken whenever the national team loses in a competition. Ghana boasts long and distinguished football history and enjoys a status among the heavyweights in the African continent. It has enjoyed tremendous success on the youth level, winning the world under-17 title twice and finishing second at the World Youth Championship twice as well.

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For part 16 of the series, I caught up with Bessam Ammar (who is currently blogging at the Tunisia World Cup Blog). Bessam is an American–Tunisian. Most of his family resides in Tunisia and he has visited the country on several occasions for extended periods of time. He is an avid football supporter and became hooked on the world cup starting with Italia 1990. He used to watch the matches and then play football outside during halftime back then in the wonder years. Nothing would bring him more joy then the underdog nation Tunisia, lifting the cup, Bessam says.

I thank Bessam for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Tunisian football history and the football culture which exists.

History: The Tunisian National Team nickname is the Carthage Eagles. Tunisia has qualified for 4 World Cups including the last 3. Our first World Cup, however, in 1978 was the most successful. Tunisia defeated Mexico 3-1 and held defending champs West Germany to a 0-0 draw. Somehow they didn’t make it to the 2nd round. Tunisia has also recently won the African Nations cup for the first time in 2004. You might call this the golden age of Tunisian football because there has been a prolonged period of general success. Club football in Tunisia has been around for about 75 years. The Fédération Tunisienne de Football is the body that has been governing Tunisian football since 1956. Club football is a vibrant part of Tunisia and we have many youth that aspire to play for their favorite club.

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For part 15 of the series, I interviewed Sam Beckwith. Sam moved to Prague in 1996 and started working as a journalist there. These days, she works for an online city guide called Prague TV and also freelances for the British football magazines World Soccer and When Saturday Comes.

I thank Sam for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Czech football history and the football culture which exists.

The Czechs have a remarkable football history - especially when you consider that the country’s population is only 10 million, and was only 15 million before the Czech-Slovak split.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Sparta Praha and Slavia Praha were among Europe’s best club sides, and both won the Mitropa Cup, the Central European forerunner of the European Champions Cup.

Czechoslovakia’s greatest achievement was winning the European Championship in 1976, beating West Germany in a penalty shoot-out. (Antonin Panenka scored the decisive penalty, cheekily chipping German goalkeeper Sepp Maier from the spot.)

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For part 14 of the series, I caught up with 28 year old Mario Ortegón from Campeche, México. Mario is an Electronics Engineer having graduated at the Universidad de las Américas, in Puebla, México. The last two months, Mario has been living in Germany as a Systems Programmer. ‘The World Cup was as important in my decision of moving to Europe as my new job’, Mario discloses.

I thank Mario for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Mexican football history and the football culture which exists.

If we go far far back in time, we would find that Mexicans have been always crazy about ball games. The old mesoamerican ball game is thousands of years old, and was played by both the Mayas and the Aztecs from the earliest times. All prehispanic cities have at least one ball court, and some had even more than one.

Soccer was introduced in Mexico by British mining prospectors in Pachuca at the turn of the century, and the oldest club is almost 100 years old. The league started very early, and in the 40’s it was professionalized. The Mexican League is one of the strongest in the American Continent, paying very high salaries and with highly competitive teams. Many good players from Argentina and Brasil, and even Europe, play or have played in México. The stadiums are quite big. The largest of them, Estadio Azteca, has been home to two world cup finals and has a capacity of 110,000 people, making it one of the biggest stadiums in the world.

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For part 13 of the series, I caught up with Nicklas Andersson from Sweden. Nicke is 27 years old, lives in Sweden and follows the domestic league and the national team closely. He attended his first big championship in 2000 when he went to Euro 2000 in Holland/Belgium. Sweden was a big disappointment but the atmosphere was fantastic and he knew then, when he returned home, that this was just the first of many visits at big championships.

He has followed the World Cup since 1986 when he was seven and then his favourites where West Germany and Denmark, especially Danish midfielder Frank Arnesen. He has watched almost every WC game since that on TV. This summer will be his first live World Cup as Nicklas has the tickets to Swedish games from group stage until the semi-finals!

I thank Nicklas for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Swedish football history and the football culture which exists.

Football is the biggest sport in Sweden and has been so forever even if ice-hockey for some periods has been almost as popular. Sweden has been a strong team in most period with weak phases in between. The biggest successes is the silver medal when we hosted the world cup 1958. Brazil won but the Swedish people became fans of Brazilian football and Pelé. 1950 and 1958, Sweden finished third. The bronze from 1994 is considered one of our biggest sport moments ever and it was the start of a renaissance in football for Sweden. The domestic league has seen spectator rise from 300 in 1994 t0 more then 10000 on an average.

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