There’s a set of questions that every reporter is compelled to ask before the start of every FIFA World Cup™. One is: Who’ll win the title? Another: Who’ll be the superstar? An answer for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ would be a name one is almost compelled to cite: David Beckham. For the many female spectators, it would be terrible if the English national team didn’t qualify for the tournament in Germany. The football playing pop icon brings glamour with him no matter where he goes. Real Madrid earns approximately the same amount of revenue from David Beckham shirts as Bayern Munich do from all their team shirts.

David Beckham has been a superstar for a long time now. Even the penalty he skied into the heavens hasn’t done any permanent damage to his reputation. A survey has shown him to be the planet’s best known footballer. But does he have the ability to become the best footballer in the world in 2006? Many experts have their doubts. They see Beckham as being a master of the dead ball . But “Becks” has proved in Real Madrid that there’s more to him than that.

He will have to show all his talents if he wants to become the superstar of the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. The competition will be ferocious. There’s Ronaldinho for starters. Barcelona’s midfielder was voted World Footballer of the Year 2004 and is nevertheless quite modest. “I don’t see myself as a star, I have a lot to learn.” Time is on his side, but the competition isn’t sleeping. It even lies in wait in his own, the Brazilian team. Ronaldo, who Ronaldinho admires, Kaka and Adriano, who many see as Ronaldo’s successor, are already staking their claims. In the team belonging to  neighbours and rivals Argentina there’s also a few players considered to be candidates for superstar status. Hernan Crespo is one, Juan Riquelme another and naturally Carlos Tevez as well.

The German national team doesn’t have that many potential superstars in their team. Oliver Kahn would have become one at the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ if he hadn’t have committed the serious blunder that Ronaldo took prompt advantage of in the final against Brazil. Further up the pitch, Michael Ballack comes to mind. The home advantage should additionally inspire the 29-year-old midfield strategist who has an extraordinary goal instinct.

Kahn and Ballack also have competition from within their own club team. Roy Makaay though not only has the problem that the Dutch national team have to first qualify but he also has a man in front of him that, even when it’s difficult to believe, is even more clinical in front of goal than he. “I love scoring goals,” said Ruud van Nistelrooy, and he lives and plays according to the motto. Andrej Shevchenko is of a similar calibre, but the Ukrainian is likely to be unlucky. His team might not progress far enough for him to become a superstar.

The chances for Thierry Henry look rosier even though the French team is going through a period of change. The list of candidates for superstar status has seldom been so long as before the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. Cristiano Ronaldo and Deco from Portugal can certainly also be counted among the number as can England’s youngster Wayne Rooney. In Italy, Alberto Gilardino might also be ready for superstar status and maybe even France’s Louis Saha. The stocky striker Gilardino played a fantastic U 21 European Championship in 2004 when taking the title. Further contenders definitely include Spain’s Raul, Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Sweden and the Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov, who plays for the Bundesliga club, Bayer Leverkusen.

Or will a defender come out on top in the end? Perhaps Philipp Lahm, the small German, the Portuguese Ricardo Carvalho, Bayern Munich’s Brazilian Lucio or Alessandro Nesta from Italy? The list is almost as long as the one for the offensive magicians. It is and remains a burning question: Who will be the superstar of the 2006 FIFA World Cup™?