The FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa has finally kicked off. Soccer fans in Germany can watch the games on TV at home, on big screen in a pub or via live stream on the web. In this overview you will find all the information you need to watch the World Cup matches live in Germany.

Watching the Games on Free TV or with PC or Notebook

The two stations ARD and ZDF are broadcasting 55 matches on free TV, on the radio, and some of them are also streamed to PCs and laptops connected to the web. At http://sport.ard.de/sp/fifawm2010/wm_live/ you can check which TV station is covering which game when and where. All matches broadcast by ARD and ZDF can also be watched by registered users at the Zattoo web portal. RTL is the only commercial broadcasting station in Germany showing nine matches live on TV and at its web portal www.sport.de via live stream on the web.

If the live streams of ARD, ZDF or RTL are over capacity, soccer fans can watch the World Cup games at web portals of broadcasting stations from other countries. Not all of these live streams are available to users in Germany, though - just like the live streams of ARD, ZDF and RTL cannot be received outside of Germany.

Watching the World Cup with a DVB-T Stick and a Notebook

Three German providers market web and TV sticks for accessing the internet via GPRS, EDGE, UMTS or HSPA and for receiving the program of broadcasting stations via DVB-T. ProSieben is selling a web and TV stick for € 94.95 at its web shop. The stick comes with a mobile data prepaid price plan with different tariff options for accessing the internet. For example, access to the internet over the Vodafone network in Germany for a whole week costs € 8.99. Receiving the DVB-T signal is free of charge for PC or notebook users.

Simply and Maxxim offer web and TV sticks for € 89.00 with a postpaid tariff for mobile internet access over the Telekom (T-Mobile) network with a short minimum term commitment of one month. Subscribers get a mobile data flat rate tariff for € 19.95 per month with 5 GB data volume per month for faster data transfers via EDGE, UMTS or HSPA. In all three cases there is an one-time set-up fee of € 24.95.

DVB-T sticks without UMTS support that can only be used for streaming TV to a PC or a laptop are available for purchase prices beginning at € 20.00 in Germany. The trade journal PC Welt has recently tested 20 DVB-T sticks. Its recommendations: Terratec T5 (€ 105.00) got top marks, the Hauppauge WinTV Ministick (€ 39.00) has a good price performance ratio.

Watching the World Cup with Apple iPhone or iPad

Live coverage of certain games of the World Cup on the Apple iPhone can be received with the iPhone app of UK broadcaster ITV1. There are seveal other iPhone apps available, too, some of free of charge. Make sure, you have booked the right mobile data tariff when using such an app. In addition, Sky is offering its new iPad “sport app” (which works only in WiFi networks) to its pay TV subscribers without extra charges until August, 31st.

Listening to the World Cup with Digital Radio or Podcast

If TV wise nothing works, soccer fans can switch to web radio stations www.radio.de/wm2010 and wm-radio.phonostar.de which offer live coverage of the World Cup games in German language or to other web radio stations offering English language coverage such as BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio 5 live sports extra. Talksport, Sky and the Guardian have daily English language World Cup podcasts during the tournament.

Public Showings of the 2010 World Cup Games

• For watching the World Cup on a big screen in Berlin, please check: townster.de
• For watching the World Cup on a big screen in Hamburg, please check: www.public-viewing-hamburg.de