2006 FIFA World Cup scandal: Beckenbauer back in the spotlight after German FA boss quits

Pressure on Franz Beckenbauer to explain payments and provide answers over a 2006 World Cup scandal grew on Tuesday, a day after the president of Germany’s FA (DFB) resigned despite insisting he had done nothing wrong.

Wolfgang Niersbach, who was a vice president of Germany’s World Cup organizers, said he was taking political responsibility for a controversial 6.7 million euro (5 million pounds) payment to FIFA allegedly used to bribe officials of world football’s governing body to vote for Germany’s World Cup hosting bid.

Following Monday’s surprise resignation of Niersbach the spotlight has now shifted to Beckenbauer, who was the head of the 2006 organising committee.

Rainer Koch, who along with fellow DFB vice president Reinhard Rauball has taken over Niersbach’s position on an interim basis, said “it is high time” Beckenbauer gets more involved in trying to resolve the issue.

“We have a request that he becomes more intensively involved in clearing up the processes,” said Koch in an interview with German channel ZDF. “The question how the World Cup was awarded will keep us busy.

“That is a big request, from the entire leadership of the DFB, (for him) to answer these questions. We clearly have more to clear up than just the 6.7 million euros. We have come to the conclusion that several processes around the awarding of the 2006 World Cup should be looked at closely.”

Niersbach, along with two other former World Cup organising committee colleagues, is under investigation for tax evasion related to the payment after police raided the DFB and his home last week.

Beckenbauer was not suspected of tax evasion and was not part of the Frankfurt prosecutor’s office probe, officials have said.

“But he needs to answer questions,” said German MP Oezcan Mutlu, who is a member of the parliamentary committee on sport. “It’s not just about the cash. It about many other questions … and he needs to provide answers.

“As it stands now, the suspicions keep growing and growing.”

Former World Cup winning captain and coach Beckenbauer – the country’s most iconic footballer – has admitted to facilitating the payment to FIFA which was allegedly a return on a loan in 2000 for German organisers from then Adidas CEO Robert-Louis Dreyfus.

He has since said that, in hindsight, this was a “mistake” but added that claims of a votes-for-cash deal were untrue.

At the heart of the investigation is the 6.7 million euros payment from the German FA to FIFA that Der Spiegel magazine claimed was a return on a loan from Louis-Dreyfus to help buy votes for Germany’s World Cup bid at the FIFA election in 2000.

The magazine’s report in October had claimed a slush fund had been set up with Louis-Dreyfus’ support to buy votes for Germany’s World Cup bid.

Beckenbauer, who answered the questions of an external law firm hired by the DFB to investigate the matter, has refused to comment again since his brief statement last month, opting to remain at his home in Austria.

German FA (DFB) president Niersbach resigned on Monday, buckling under mounting pressure over an issue that has tarnished the reputation of the world’s biggest national soccer federation.

Niersbach, under investigation for tax evasion in relation to the affair, said he was taking the responsibility for a controversial 6.7 million euro ($7.22 million) payment to FIFA allegedly used to bribe officials of world soccer’s governing body to vote for Germany’s World Cup hosting bid.

He again denied any wrongdoing.

“In order to protect the DFB and the position, I step down as president with a heavy heart,” Niersbach told reporters. “I decided to resign because I realised I had to take the political responsibility.”

At the heart of the investigation is the 2005 payment from the DFB that Der Spiegel magazine alleged was a return on a loan from the-then Adidas CEO Robert-Louis Dreyfus to help buy votes for Germany’s successful World Cup bid at the FIFA election in 2000.

“I was there from the first day of the 2006 World Cup bid until the end….and in all these years I worked not only in a clean way but also with passion and trust,” Niersbach said later in a DFB statement.

Niersbach, an executive committee member at FIFA and European soccer’s ruling body UEFA, had been at the DFB for a quarter of a century, climbing up from spokesman to general secretary and eventually president in 2012, succeeding Theo Zwanziger.

“That makes it even more depressing and painful to be confronted nine years later with processes I had nothing to do with. I want to make it clear once more that I was not aware of the payments in question. That’s what makes the decision to suffer the political consequence so much harder.”

LOEW SHOCK

Germany coach Joachim Loew said he was stunned by the 64-year-old’s resignation.

“I just found out 10 minutes ago and I am shocked and surprised,” Loew told reporters as his team gathered for forthcoming international matches.

“Apart from all the legal facts I think Wolfgang was a fantastic person and a fantastic president for us. He did everything for football. So I personally feel very sorry he stepped down.”

Last week more than 50 police and tax investigators raided the DFB headquarters plus the homes of Niersbach and other officials.

They were searching for evidence to back up suspicions by the Frankfurt prosecutor’s office that Niersbach, a 2006 World Cup organising committee vice president, Zwanziger and another former committee member did not pay tax on the 6.7 million euros.

A Der Spiegel report in October alleged a slush fund was set up with Dreyfus’ financial support to buy votes for Germany’s World Cup bid.

The DFB and Niersbach, plus then-organising chief Franz Beckenbauer, rejected the votes-for-cash claims.

Niersbach said an internal investigation was underway to find out why the amount was paid to FIFA and what was it used for.

Asked at a news conference on Oct. 22 why the DFB had paid FIFA the amount, he replied: “I don’t know”.

REUTERS