Germany's players have been advised to strap on bullet-proof vests at next summer's World Cup in South Africa. BaySecur, the German security company that deals with the country's soccer federation (DFB), announced its concerns with players travelling outside the team's hotel grounds in Pretoria.

"The possibility for the players of moving outside of the hotel boundaries should be kept to a minimum," Guenter Schnelle from BaySecur told German magazine Sport-Bild. "Otherwise there must be a full escort: armed security guards and bullet-proof vests for the players."

Fear of South Africa's crime rates has prompted the DFB to take extra precautions. For example, private bodyguards will protect the players both in and around the Velmore Grande hotel in the province of Gauteng. "We will probably use more personnel than we would normally have," Helmut Spahn, the federation's security boss, said. Spahn will spend four days in South Africa next week looking at security arrangements. Read the original story...