This will be the first tournament that is accessible to millions through broadband connections. Afternoon kick-offs mean that a huge number of fans will be hoping to tune in to the BBC website to watch games live over the internet.

The group and knockout games should be relatively easy to access free-to-air at www.bbc.co.uk/worldcup.

Office managers were advised last night to download the necessary media player software or face days of absenteeism. Only the bravest employers are likely to ban football-watching altogether for fear that their workers will simply decide to watch the games at home instead.

The BBC promises that its site will be able to handle heavy web traffic during England games. High-speed connections will be pressed into service for football across Britain’s offices when the BBC screens games live over the internet.

A “Mini Motty”, the BBC’s desktop commentator, will pop-up to relay breaking news, while controversial offside decisions will be instantly analysed as virtual 3D animations.

“A lot of online viewing is done in the office, so we suspect this will allow people both to do their job and to keep up with the very latest action from Germany,” Roger Mosey, the BBC’s director of sport, said.

Based on an average hourly wage of £12.50, the law firm Brabners Chaffe Street calculated that during the tournament, if half of British workers surf the net for an hour a day, it will cost Britain nearly £4 billion in lost time.

The firm advised managers to set out what they deemed acceptable internet usage before Friday’s kick-off. But the BBC broadband feed will only work in Britain, so those who have misguidedly booked holidays will need to invest in a little technological trickery.

The Slingbox is a device that connects to the television and redirects the signal over the internet, supposedly allowing you to watch your home set on a personal computer anywhere in the world.

A digital tuner allows users to access Freeview programming through their home aerial, but the Slingbox also works with most digital cable and satellite set-top boxes.

Already a success in the US, the £180 gadget, which goes on sale this week, can be converted to let users watch broadcasts on mobile telephones.

However, early adopters say that perfect reception is required to receive a decent television signal on PCs.

Sony has also developed its LocationFree connector, which allows television broadcasts to be viewed on a Sony Portable PlayStation games machine as well as a laptop.

Apple recommends that Mac users watch games using the Miglia portable TV tuner (£70), which can pause and record digital television channels on your screen. Highlights can be also be downloaded straight to a video iPod.

A more compact solution would be to let viewers on the move watch games live on mobile phones. But broadcasting rights issues mean that no company is offering live streaming to British customers. The closest alternative is from the 3 network, which is providing free extended highlights of every game only five minutes after the final whistle.

For the football addict who cannot be parted from the action for one second, the TV watch is the ultimate solution. It will be tough to rule definitively on offside decisions through the 1.5” thin film transistor colour screen, but the £129 watch is easy to use and the headphones double as neatly disguised antennae. It has a recharge time of three hours but has a running time of only one hour. A television licence is required to use the watch, which is available from www.iwantoneofthose.com.

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