Basel has rolled out not so much the red but the orange carpet as it prepares to host up to 100,000 Dutch fans this weekend when the Netherlands and Russia contest their UEFA EURO 2008™ quarter-final at St. Jakob-Park on Saturday.
Hammering Man
The Swiss city has done its utmost to prepare for the Dutch invasion and Henk W. Kesler, CEO of the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB), was quick to notice that the famous Hammering Man sculpture that stands at Aschenplatz had been coloured orange especially for the event. "We were warmly welcomed," said Kesler. "The main thing I noticed was the big orange sculpture."
'The Dutch are coming'
The three-kilometre route between the city's two main train stations was also decked out in orange while a large banner reading "Welkom Oranjefans" was draped over the entrance gate erected on the 13th century Mittlere Brücke, or Middle Bridge. "The Dutch are coming at exactly the right time," said Hanspeter Weisshaupt, Basel's UEFA EURO 2008 delegate.
Locals' favourites
Basel has done it bit to accommodate them all with unused giant screens brought over from Berne, venue for the Netherlands' first-round games, to ensure 60,000 people will be able to watch the action in the public viewing areas. But they won't all be Dutch - with Switzerland eliminated, many local fans are adopting the Dutch as their second team, as Kesler noted: "Many Swiss are wearing orange."
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