Basel braced for lively Dutch and wealthy Russians
BASEL (Reuters) - Euro 2008 organizers in the Swiss city of Basel said they were preparing for two contrasting sets of supporters ahead of Saturday's quarter-final between Netherlands and Russia.
Basel, which also hosts Thursday's tie between Germany and Portugal and the first semi-final next Wednesday, has been busy building additional fanzones and camping places for tens of thousands of boisterous Dutch fans.
But organizers said the city was ill-equipped to cope with Russian supporters with more expensive tastes.
"The idea of wealthy Russian fans demanding top end accommodation might sound like a cliche but experience from the Austrian host cities tells us it is true," Basel tournament coordinator Hanspeter Weisshaupt told Reuters.
"The trouble is we only have three or four really top class hotels in Basel and those are already fully booked.
"We are telling Russian travel groups looking for that type of hotel the other Swiss cities still have availability and are all very easily accessible from Basel."
Weisshaupt said Russia's win over Sweden on Wednesday forced organizers to rethink their strategy.
LUXURY HOTELS
"We had a Swedish plan we have had to shelve," he added. "Apart from the shortage of luxury hotels, though, the Russian supporters could actually make things easier for us as we are expecting less than 10,000 of their fans to come here."
Up to 100,000 Dutch supporters are expected, based on similar numbers that followed the team's three group stage games in the capital Berne.
With Basel only having a population of around 180,000, Weisshaupt acknowledged the city would be nowhere near capable of accommodating them.
"We should have enough space in the fanzones where we have added an extra two viewing areas but we definitely don't have room for everyone to sleep here," he said.
"We have expanded the city's fan camps from their original capacity of around 6,000 to now house up to 20,000 fans and there are around 5,000 beds in and around the city."
Organizers are confident the remainder will travel home after the match, use bases elsewhere in Switzerland or take a less luxurious approach than their Russian counterparts.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
