As Malta was building up a head of steam in the European Parliament election, the excitement of the World Cup seemed to be put on the back burner.

But World Cup fever is definitely here. Most people love it, even those who are not really football fans, but there are those that wish they could hide the television remote for the next month as matches dominate our televisions.

Malta seems to have finally got into the spirit of things and the two main rival camps of England and Italy are in full swing to create Carnival atmospheres at their bases, usually Bugibba and St Julian’s. But over the years, a whole plethora of ‘fan clubs’ have sprung up. Apart from Maltese who now support a variety of budding teams, there is also the expat effect, as workers from all over Europe now live and work in Malta. There’s the Turks, the Australians and US citizens who also live here from outside the European Union, so we should be treated to a veritable melting pot of different supporters all rooting for their team to do well.

As we have already said, the main camps in Malta are the England and Italy fans. Business owners will be hoping that the two stay in the competition as long as possible (read also pages 10&11) because it will boost sales. But in particular, business owners will hope that England stay in the competition till the end – and possible beyond. A lot of Malta’s tourists are English and they are known to drink the bars dry when matches are on.

This year, we have commemorated the World Cup here at Standard Publications by producing a magazine, and printing cards of classic world cup moments. They will continue to be distributed until the end of next week. Plus, this year, we have decided to bring a little fun to the tournament through Nico – our ‘clairvoyant’  parrot. Nico will be asked to pick the flag of the team he thinks will win a match and his choices will be broadcast daily on our website www.independent.com.mt.  His first test will be tomorrow, when Brazil take on Croatia in the opening fixture.

Well, it’s been months of build up and the tournament kicks off this evening. Just like the rest of the world, many Maltese will be watching the opening game and every one that affects their own team’s survival chances. Good luck to all fans – and as the saying goes, may the best team win.