For 90 minutes the world will be focusing on football, Leipzig and Lothar Matthäus: Continental to run a welcome campaign in parallel to the Final Draw for the 2006 fifa world Cup GermanyTM

Hanover, December 2005. Continental AG is an Official Partner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany^TM and will be running an outdoor promotional campaign in the centre of Leipzig to welcome selected football stars who, along with their teams, have qualified for the Final Draw. From 2nd December 2005, banners along the route from Halle-Leipzig Airport to the Leipzig exhibition halls will welcome the captain of the English national team David Beckham and France's superstar Zinedine Zidane in their own language about ten days long. The same goes for top forwards Naohiro Takahara from Japan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Sweden and Germany's Lukas Podolski, as well as for Franz Beckenbauer, president of the 2006 FIFA World Cup^TM organising committee.

Mobile display panels will also carry the tongue-in-cheek slogan "And once again the world's best footballers will quake in fear of our Lothar", a reference to Germany's record-holding national player Lothar Matthäus who will help in the Final Draw when the eight groups are decided. The event will be held in Leipzig on 9th December 2005 between 8.30 and 10 p.m., and broadcast live to over 130 countries. Continental will also welcome the footballers mentioned above with two alternating digital videoclips on a large screen in Leipzig's main railway station. From 5th-9th December, FIFA will be inviting its member associations, the Official Partners and representatives from the media to the FIFA World Cup™ city of Leipzig, where the group draw will be used to set the sporting course for the 2006 FIFA World Cup^TM.

For Continental this campaign will form part of its outdoor advertising initiative, which began back in December 2003 in Frankfurt, when the qualifying groups for the 2006 FIFA World Cup^TM were drawn. With up to 300 million viewers expected to watch the Leipzig event, the company's message will once again link the premium tyre brand Continental firmly to football. Continental has its main headquarters in the FIFA World Cup™ city of Hanover, where five World Cup matches will be played. The company currently has over 81,000 employees, more than 32,000 of them in Germany, and is the European leader in car tyres fitted as Original Equipment, winter tyres and in the car customising sector.

The final group draw is also highly relevant for the internal preparations at Continental, because only when the eight groups and their matches have been determined can the many details for guests from over a hundred countries visiting the FIFA World Cup™ be settled. Football fans who have been unsuccessful in the draws so far will also have plenty of opportunities to win tickets for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany^TM. From January 2006, Continental will be holding draws in several European countries with over 5,000 tickets for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany^TM to be won. Extensive information about the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany^TM, together with details of all Continental's football activities, including ticket draws, is given on the football/tyre website www.ContiSoccerWorld.com.

The Continental Corporation is a leading supplier of tyres, brake systems, chassis components, vehicle electronics and technical elastomers. In 2004 the corporation realised sales of EUR12.6 billion. At present it has a worldwide workforce of more than 81,000.

The tyre business unit is an Official Partner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany^TM.
For further information, visit the websites www.conti-online.com and www.ContiSoccerWorld.com.

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