German super fan decorates street with hundreds of flags ahead of World Cup

Showing off his love for the German national football team and hopes for a better result than the past two World Cups, a 70-year-old fan in the Western German town of Essen, hung up hundreds of flags in the street he lives in.     Achim Klimmek said he has a theme for every time he decorates the street. This time it's "back to the roots".

"The idea is to bring back the old virtues", Klimmek told Reuters. "As we've seen, we were eliminated in the group stage at the last two World Cups: in Russia in 2018 and then in Qatar in 2022. And I hope that this 'back to the roots' theme will get them fighting and winning, that they'll have a better tournament than the last two times."

Flags from other participating nations could also be found, although the street is dominated with the black-red-gold of the German flag and pictures of past German teams.

"I have around a few hundred flags, 400 to 500 hooks, 3,000 to 4,000 tent pegs," said Klimmek. "Then there's the setup, and the weather was bad. It all got a bit delayed. But yes, the response has been very good. Cars usually drive through here at 30 or 40 km/h. Now they're only driving with 10 or 5 km/h. Because everyone's got a camera in their hand."

Germany will kick-off their World Cup Group E matches against Curacao on June 14 before facing Ivory Coast and Ecuador, with two teams guaranteed to progress from the group stage and the potential for the team finishing third in the group to join them.

Production: Erol Dogrudogan, Anna Dittrich/Reuters