91Èȱ¬ Sport announces its squad for the 2006 World Cup
Introduction
World Cup winners Leonardo and Marcel Desailly and Celtic manager Gordon Strachan added to 91Èȱ¬ TV pundit team
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Sports Prepare by Carl Davis, adapted from Handel's See the Conquering Hero Comes, to provide the soundtrack to the 91Èȱ¬'s TV coverage
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High-Definition TV and blogging to emerge as key technologies
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The 91Èȱ¬ has confirmed its squad for the 2006 World Cup across TV, radio and online.
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Joining the team are three additions:
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Leonardo, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 1994. The midfielder played for AC Milan, Valencia and Paris Saint-Germain. He was made captain of the national team by Mario Zagallo and played for Brazil while Luiz Felipe Scolari was manager;
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Marcel Desailly, a World Cup winner with France in 1998. The all-time French appearance record-holder (116 caps), the former Chelsea captain also won Euro 2000 with France and is a former team-mate of Leonardo at AC Milan and played against him in the 1998 Final;
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Gordon Strachan, the Celtic boss has just been named Scottish Manager of the Year for winning the Premier League and League Cup. He played in the 1982 and 1986 World Cup Finals for Scotland.
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Match of the Day presenter and former England captain Gary Lineker leads the 91Èȱ¬ TV team.
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He will present coverage of 2006 World Cup matches on the 91Èȱ¬ live from the 91Èȱ¬'s studio in Berlin and from selected games across Germany.
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Joining Gary in the studio will be Alan Hansen and former England internationals Alan Shearer, Ian Wright and Lee Dixon.
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Match commentators are John Motson, Jonathan Pearce, Steve Wilson, Simon Brotherton and Guy Mowbray, with co-commentary from Mark Lawrenson, Mick McCarthy, Gavin Peacock and Mark Bright.
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Ray Stubbs will be the 91Èȱ¬'s other main presenter while Adrian Chiles will front the highlights shows.
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On Saturdays, Manish Bhasin will present Football Focus.
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Manish will also run some of the interactive forums, as will Adrian and Gary.
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Bringing viewers all the latest news from Germany will be Garth Crooks, who will relay all the latest from the England camp, and Celina Hinchcliffe, who will report from the 11 host cities outside of Berlin.
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Our three roving reporters will be Ivan Gaskell, Damian Johnson and Rebecca Lowe.
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91Èȱ¬ Radio Five Live becomes the World Cup station as, along with its digital sister station Five Live Sports Extra, there is full live commentary and analysis on every single match bar one.
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Programmes across the daily schedule - including Breakfast, Derbyshire, Mayo and Drive - will come from Germany providing listeners with the most comprehensive coverage and up-to-date news from the tournament.
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Mark Pougatch and Mark Saggers will present commentary of the matches from venues throughout Germany with Five Live's award-winning commentators guiding listeners through each match whilst a top team of pundits - including Paul Jewell, Martin Jol and Graham Taylor - will provide expert analysis.
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Music
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The 91Èȱ¬'s theme tune for the 2006 World Cup is Sports Prepare by Carl Davis.
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Adapted from George Handel's See the Conquering Hero Comes, celebrated composer Davis conducted this modern rendition with the 91Èȱ¬ Concert Orchestra and the 91Èȱ¬ Singers.
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The original was written by Handel, the 18th century German composer who lived most of his adult life in Great Britain.
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In the first half of the 20th century the piece was often used as victorious football teams returned home – local bands and choirs would perform this as a salute to their team.
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Technology innovation
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Innovation is at the heart of 91Èȱ¬'s sporting coverage and the World Cup will be the first football tournament to be broadcast in the UK on High Definition (HD).
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The overall 91Èȱ¬ HD trial will kick off with the 91Èȱ¬'s share of World Cup matches up to and including the Sunday 9 July final.
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A dedicated website - bbc.co.uk/worldcup - will offer an in-depth guide to the tournament both during and ahead of kick-off.
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New for this tournament will be Player Ratings where website and TV viewers can rate players in-match, while the very popular Mini Motty, the desktop news pop-up of John Motson, returns.
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Also returning, but improved for 2006, is Virtual Replay, the 3D-style recreations of key moments from every match.
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Virtual Replay will offer bbc.co.uk/sport users the chance to watch 3D animations of all shots and goals from each of the World Cup matches after they happen.
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Users will be able to view the action from different camera angles and enjoy an 'as live' experience as the match is being played.
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Football fans can also add themselves to the website – a new feature called The Beautiful Frame will allow users to send in their World Cup-related photos from around the world.
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Public participation also extends to a World Cup Blog which will invite users to live the tournament through the eyes of two 91Èȱ¬ journalists.
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As they drive around Germany in a camper van, our bloggers will take direction and advice from readers, regularly relating back their adventures on the long and winding road to Berlin.
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Viewers with digital TV will have access to a number of extra interactive options.
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The 91Èȱ¬ Sport Interactive service will be available on all Digital TV platforms with coverage divided into two applications, Live Match and Replay. Interactive will be available 24/7 during the tournament.
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Viewers will have the audio choice of 91Èȱ¬ match commentary, Five Live's commentary or the real-time noise from the stadium.
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Additionally we will extend the 91Èȱ¬ live match coverage on interactive beyond its 91Èȱ¬ ONE transmission window to allow for extra post-match analysis.
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Viewers will also be able to replay in full earlier matches via the red button.
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Also on interactive, between 91Èȱ¬ match broadcasts, are a number of special streams: three x 15 minute edits of every World Cup match; an England channel, with interviews pre and post-match press conferences; and a round up of the best goals of the tournament.
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Big Screen
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The 91Èȱ¬ will operate four fixed big screens in Birmingham (not all games), Hull, Leeds and Manchester with more venues to be announced, showing all of the 91Èȱ¬'s games.
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Five Live will also operate a number of mobile, truck-mounted screens travelling all around the UK to a wide range of locations and communities.
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Related programming
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Programmes related to the World Cup include Blue Peter, which is running a number of features: a competition for a new Fair Play slogan for England in association with the FA; a guide to refereeing with Graham Poll; and a feature on Celine Lawrence, the eight-year-old daughter of Trinidad and Tobago international Dennis Lawrence.
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Other programmes include:
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World Cup Stories, six one hour documentaries on different countries' World Cup histories (91Èȱ¬ TWO, from Sunday 7 May at 9.00pm);
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World Cup Goals, a countdown of the best 100 goals (91Èȱ¬ THREE, transmission details to be confirmed);
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When Lineker met Maradona, a one-off documentary with Gary Lineker and Maradona (91Èȱ¬ ONE, Tuesday 2 May at 10.35pm).
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Notes to Editors
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The 91Èȱ¬ World Cup 2006 press pack is available in pdf format via the links on the right-hand side of this page, either as a complete pack or in sections.
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