Soccer-Germany plans to boost security staff for World Cup

Germany plans to boost the number of security staff for the national team at next year's World Cup in South Africa due to the country's high crime rate, federation officials said on Wednesday.

"We will have more own security personnel than before," said German Soccer Federation's (DFB) Helmut Spahn, who is in charge of security.

"We are in contact with several companies," he told SportBild magazine.

Spahn said the DFB was also considering hiring German bodyguards who already work in South Africa, apart from about a dozen security staff that will accompany the team from Germany.

A DFB group will inspect the team's hotel near Pretoria this week before issuing a first security report, the DFB said.

BERLIN, Oct 21 (Reuters) -