Martin Prinz, 39
Joint Managing Director, SAP Labs, India (Bangalore)
............................................ German

He is, arguably, the most visible football fanatic in Bangalore's tech community; he sharpens his skills every weekend playing soccer on his lawns against an initially unwilling but increasingly skillful domestic help and 10-year-old son Ishaan. Quite naturally, then, World Cup fever is building up in the Prinz household. "We will have to watch the first game here in India, since Ishaan's school closes on the opening day of the Cup. But after that we will be going home for four weeks and have even won tickets by lottery to the Spain v/s Saudi Arabia game at Kaiserslautern (a small town of 100,000 people)," says Prinz. He will do nothing but watch football at home with family and a few close friends, soak in the atmosphere and cheer his team through the month-long tournament. He is hoping that Michael Ballack will help Germany regain the trophy; but he's keeping a wary eye on five-time winners Brazil.

-Rahul Sachitanand

Nicolas G. Winsor, 44
Head, Personal Financial Services, HSBC India (Mumbai)
............................................ British

This is a good time to entertain friends and family at home. But I might also watch a few games at pubs such as Tendulkar's and Sports Bar, where I often hang out after work," says Winsor, adding: "I am also going to buy lots of coffee, as I won't be getting any sleep during this period." That's because most matches will be played around midnight Indian time. He's very excited about flying back to Brighton, UK (where he is from), in early July (watching the World Cup in India, after all, is not quite the same thing as experiencing it in Europe). "If England makes it to the finals, I'll even be willing to buy tickets on the black market to watch the live action," he says, adding, with a touch of quirky Anglo-Saxon humour: "May the best team win, so long as it is England." At HSBC, Winsor and his colleagues are also running sweepstakes where every man (and some women, too) will put in Rs 100 and three winners will get to share the loot.

-Ahona Ghosh

Felipe Osorio, 41
Managing Director, Monsanto Holdings, Mumbai
............................................ Colombian

Like most Latin Americans, Osorio takes his football very seriously. Not surprisingly, then, he's arranged his calendar for June and July so as not to miss a single World Cup match. "I'm sure my stakeholders will understand my 'Latin football passion'," he says, only half in jest. Osorio has already decided who to support-any team that speaks Spanish or Portuguese. He plans to watch this year's edition of the World Cup at the homes of his English friends, primarily for two reasons. "They have equipped their homes with all the necessary infrastructure, including scotch and beer," he informs, before moving on to the more important determinant of his choice of location. "Also, it's always fun to see their faces when a humble Latin player like Ronaldinho scores a free kick against their goalkeeper," he says with a twinkle in his eyes. And if things really hot up (read: one of his favourite teams makes it to the title round), he'll hotfoot it to Berlin to egg them on.

-AG

Brian W. Tempest, 58
Chief Mentor and Executive Vice Chairman, Ranbaxy Laboratories (Delhi)
............................................ British

We Europeans love our football. To give you an idea of how excited my family is about the World Cup, my two sons in London have taken long vacations from their work; they attend barbecue parties everyday to discuss the prospects of the English team and generally fuss over the World Cup," says Tempest. Has he firmed up his World Cup plans, yet? "I'm obviously going to watch the World Cup, but because of prior business engagements, I'll probably get to see only the initial and the final parts of the tournament," he says. And no prizes for guessing which team he's backing. "Obviously England. I'm hoping they make it to the quarter-finals or semi-finals, but I'm not sure if they can go beyond that. I think Brazil and Germany are going to advance to the semi-finals." Tempest, who's a Manchester United fan, is also hoping that "all ManU players do well; I particularly hope (the injured) Wayne Rooney (plays and) shines in this World Cup." But he'll definitely miss the excitement and frenzy that invariably accompany football in Albion. "At Ranbaxy, we watch cricket rather than football," he rues.

-Kapil Bajaj

Michael Kuehner, 54
Managing Director, Siemens Public Communications Networks, Gurgaon
............................................ German

He is an atypical German. "I would call myself a soft-core soccer fan, not a hardcore one. But being German, I'm obviously going to watch the World Cup," he says, adding that he will visit his native land during the latter half of the tournament to soak in the excitement. "It's always more enjoyable to go with friends to a bar and watch football over drinks than to do it alone," he says. "And then there are the wagers that add to the fun. I believe there are some bars, pubs and coffee shops in New Delhi that show the games on big screens." Kuehner is obviously supporting Germany, "but my wife is Dutch; so my 16-year-old son supports both teams. And I sometimes have to pretend to support the Netherlands," he laughs.

-KB