As Cologne gets ready for England’s World Cup fans, sean thomas visits the largest brothel in the world
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Armin Lobscheid is in a generous mood. "If you come back again we can put you up," he says. "You could stay here for a week!"
It's tempting, but I'm not sure what my fiancee would make of the offer. Herr Lobscheid is the manager of the biggest brothel in the world, the Pascha. Situated in the post-industrial suburbs of Cologne, every floor of this mammoth building boasts 20 rooms, each housing its own self-employed prostitute. The mega-brothel is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Christmas Day is notoriously one of the busiest.
And why is Herr Lobscheid so happy? Because of the Fifa World
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Cup. This June, a million foreign football fans, primarily male, primarily young, are expected to invade Germany, and if previous World Cups and Olympics are anything to go by, a lot of them are going to be seeking commercial sex.
The fans won't be restricted to legalised brothels like the Pascha. Germany has one of the most liberal commercial sex industries anywhere, so the World Cup punter will be able to take his pick from several options. Most German cities boast clubs called FKKs (for Freikorperkultur or "free body culture"); once nudist clubs, they are now luxury saunas featuring paid-for sex.
Then there are the regular red-light zones packed with streetwalkers, such as Hamburg's Reeperbahn, and "dating bars" which double as bordellos, such as Berlin's Psst Bar.
In certain cases there are also special "tolerance zones" (once 
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