EINTRACHT Frankfurt are infamous in the footballing world for one thing - being on the receiving end of a 7-3 hammering by Real Madrid at Hampden Park in the 1960 European Cup Final.

It was arguably the greatest European final and the match was revisited recently following the death of Hungary and Real Madrid legend Ferenc Puskas, who scored four in the game which saw Madrid win their fifth straight European Cup in front of a crowd of 127,000 in Glasgow.

Frankfurt did win the UEFA Cup in 1980, when the competition really meant something. It was an all German two-legged final, with Borussia Munchengladbach runners-up.

Eintracht were one of the original 16 teams to form the German Bundesliga in 1963 and four years previously they won their only league title.

After an indifferent last few years that has seen the team relegated twice, Eintracht are currently 11th in the Bundesliga.

In the World Cup England played their opening game, a 1-0 win over Paraguay, at Frankfurt's 52,000 capacity Commerzbank-Arena. The game was most memorable for it being very hot. Yes that's right, very hot.

Forget the miserable performance because all the players wanted to talk about afterwards was how hot it was.

How do you expect a European team to win the World Cup in those conditions - ie in Europe in the summer?

Next thing you know they'll be playing the tournament in Africa.

FRANKFURT is often considered a dreary place of all work and no play and that theory is backed up the city's most famous son being someone none-too-familiar to the rest of Europe.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) - yes him - is generally considered the founder of modern German literature.

His classic is Faust, which reflects the evolution of Goethe's own thinking and character. Get this, it took him 50 years to finish.

I don't know whether his quill kept breaking or not but talk about lazy. And to think it only took three years to build the Tyne Bridge!

Another famous Frankfurter is the artist Adam Elsheimer (1578-1610), so you now know we're struggling, but perhaps not on a par with St Helens on Merseyside.

Their most famous son is Bernie Clifton who, with his 'marathon-running ostrich', is in Snow White at the Watersmeet Theatre in Rickmansworth this Christmas. Word is book early to avoid disappointment.

DESPITE one famous face missing from the Newcastle party that left for Frankfurt yesterday morning, there was one non-footballing star who took his place on board.

While Albert Luque was watching a truck drive into the back of his Porsche, Ashington golfer Ken Ferrie made the official trip to mix business and pleasure during his stay in Germany.

The man who led the US Open this year is an ardent Newcastle fan and will be spending today on the golf course with some of the club's sponsors before tonight's game.

Rumours that Ashington's other world-class sportsman would be joining him in Frankfurt were hastily denied in Adelaide, with England's cricketing bowling coach Kevin Shine insisting the one-on-one coaching with Steve Harmison was coming on fine.

THERE is hardly a glut of interesting facts about Frankfurt but here's one.

Despite being one of the financial centres of the world it has almost no city-centre cashpoints.

So if you're mugged while walking in the city centre and the muggers have transport and want to plunder your bank account by taking you to a cashpoint, at least you'll probably get to see some of the city before they relieve you of your hard earned