Sleepy Nuremberg slow to wake up to World Cup

NUREMBERG, June 6 (Reuters) Some of the people of Nuremberg, arguably the most attractive of the World Cup venues, seem blissfully unaware that soccer fans from around the world are about to descend on their corner of Bavaria.

''What? They will play here as well?'' asked a bewildered cafe owner today when she was reminded that several World Cup matches would be played in the city.

''I thought they would play only in Berlin. I guess we have to get ready,'' she said as she rushed into the shop in the immaculately preserved heart of a city which woos tourists with its cobbled streets and timber-framed houses.

The city's soccer team, once the dominant force in Germany, has slipped into relatively obscurity in the Bundesliga, seemingly dulling the soccer reflexes of its citizens.

The presence of a handful of Mexican and Iranian fans, whose teams meet in Nuremberg's Frankenstadion on Sunday, are a sign of what is about to happen in Bavaria's second largest city.

The noise levels are likely to rise a few days later when England meet Trinidad and Tobago in the same venue.

For all its charm, Nuremberg will be forever associated with the Nazi rallies of the 1920 and 1930s and the war crimes trials that held leading Nazis accountable for human rights abuses.

Today the city has an 18 percent foreign population -- well over the national average -- and will seek to promote itself as a relaxed and cosmopolitan place to live.

Authorities have launched the ''Nuremberg kicks'' campaign which includes a soccer tournament with partner cities from China, Italy, Turkey, Greece and Israel to promote tolerance.

''We will do everything in our power to promote this group experience outside the Frankenstadion,'' says mayor Ulrich Maly.

''We want our guests to go home convinced that Nuremberg has its rightful place in the World Cup league.'' An open air exhibition of football-related art does add World Cup colour to the city but not for everyone.

''What are the seats doing up there,'' an American tourist asked, looking at one of the exhibits -- a 17-metre sculpture made of old seats from Berlin's Olympic stadium, at the city's Hauptmarkt.

''That's for soccer, right?,'' he said before quickly turning his attention to the city's stunning Church of Our Lady, across the square.

REUTERS DH BST2150