posted Jun 26th, 2006 - The previous 4-way meets in Great Britain on June 10 and in the Netherlands on June 17 already had their shares of indirect competition with the FIFA World Cup Soccer. Last Saturday, it was Germany's turn to deal with the combination of skydiving and soccer.

Germany's Deutsche Sky Liga (DSL) had scheduled two events at two different locations in the north and the south of Germany, while the national soccer team played against the team from Sweden on Saturday afternoon. The soccer game was the first knock-out match of the best 16 teams after the previous group games, and the winner would advance to the quarterfinals.

Germany is the host of this year's FIFA World Cup, which takes place every four years, and the whole country is having a big soccer party. It was no surprise that the on-line commentator of the two 4-way competitions, DSL founder and FAI judge Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle, mentioned the soccer game several times last weekend.

The German league provides the 4-way and skydiving community with regular on-line updates throughout the event weekends, and these updates included notes of the soccer situation. The German teams and competitors used every available minute to check what was going on in the soccer game.

It turned out to be a successful weekend for Germany on both ends. The 4-way teams completed the six rounds at both event sites and posted great scores. The soccer team won the match against Sweden 2-0 and will now play against Argentina for the next slot in the semifinals. No 4-way competition is scheduled in Germany for this game.

However, the trouble with the FIFA World Cup Soccer is not over yet for the 4-way teams and competitors in Great Britain. England is still in the tournament, as well, and will play its next game against Portugal this Saturday. That's also the first day of the next Grand Prix 4-way competition...

A total of 11 teams competed last weekend in Germany, eight teams in the AAA/Open FAI Class and three teams in the A Class. The current leaderboard shows that the European Skydiving League teams had a very busy meet weekend, with 22 teams in the AAA Class, 11 teams in the A Class and one Rookie Class team.

Germany, Belgium, Austria and the Czech Republic had events running at the same time, while teams from Georgia, the Northern Plains and the Midwest competed in the USA. The NSL scores have not been added to last weekend's leaderboard yet.

The 4-way half of the German national 8-way team, X-Ray Remscheid, won the German AAA Class competition by one single point over the German Army team, Bundeswehr, and the 14.0/13.8 averages placed these teams in 4th and 5th positions on the complete leaderboard. Both teams improved their meet averages compared to the DSL May meet.

Germany is also the host of this year's World Championship of Formation Skydiving, and the NSL News has mentioned this event already several times. The preparations are in full swing, and the NSL News will be live on site with the usual features.

The two German national 4-way teams, EADS in the Open Class and FSC Remscheid in the female category, have not competed at this year's DSL events to date. The last DSL competition of the regular season is scheduled for July 22nd and offers the last opportunity for both teams to get any competition practice before the start of the World Meet 2006 on home turf.