SOCCER-FIFA/GERMANY No bribes paid to FIFA for 2006 World Cup - German FA president

Record ID: 135223

  • Title: SOCCER-FIFA/GERMANY No bribes paid to FIFA for 2006 World Cup - German FA president
  • Date: 17th October 2015
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (OCTOBER 17, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COVER OF SPIEGEL MAGAZINE WITH HEADLINE (German): "A summer fairytale destroyed." INSIDE PAGE WITH PICTURES OF GERMAN FOOTBALL FANS AND HEADLINE (German) "SUMMER, SUN, BLACK MONEY"
  • Embargoed: 1st November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAECX1PRIVQT6UWQWWNR008VLLA
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Germany's 2006 World Cup bid committee did not bribe officials from the world soccer governing body FIFA to win the vote for the tournament, the German Football Association (DFB) president Wolfgang Niersbach said on Saturday (October 17), rejecting allegations made by a German magazine a day earlier.
    Niersbach, who served on the committee, was responding to a report in Der Spiegel magazine on Friday (October 16) alleging a slush fund had been set up for the committee to pay bribes to FIFA officials in order to help land the tournament for Germany in 2000.
    Der Spiegel reported that among those aware of the slush fund had been the head of the committee, Franz Beckenbauer, as well as Niersbach, citing internal documents from the German Football Association (DFB).
    "I can absolutely and categorically rule that out. I can assure you that in relation to the campaign for and allocation of the 2006 World Cup there were definitively no slush funds at the DFB, our campaign committee or the later organising committee. At that time, in July 2000, we were the very best candidate and we won with 12 votes to 11 with our arguments for Germany as host," Niersbach said in a recorded interview released by the DFB.
    Asked whether there was a votes-for-cash deal at the FIFA election in 2000, Niersbach said: "Certainly not, I can assure all football fans of that," adding that Der Spiegel had not offered any proof and was only citing an unreliable second-hand quote.
    Niersbach said the DFB had asked its media lawyer to investigate the case and proceed "with all possible legal means" against the central claim that the 2006 World Cup was bought with money from slush funds.
    Beckenbauer has not responded to repeated requests for comment from Reuters. His agent could not be reached on Saturday.
    Earlier on Saturday another former member of the 2006 organising committee, Fedor Radmann, also rejected the allegations.
    The DFB said on Friday its own investigation had found no wrongdoing in the process of being awarded the 2006 World Cup, but said it was investigating a payment of 6.7 million euros ($7.6 million) from the committee to FIFA for a cultural programme during the 2006 World Cup and whether it was used as intended.
    Der Spiegel claimed this payment was a return of a loan paid to the bid committee by the late Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus to help it set up the alleged slush fund, a claim also rejected by Niersbach.
    "The result of the ongoing investigation is open but because of when this payment happened I can already definitively rule out that the payment was related to the allocation of the World Cup in 2000," Niersbach said.
    Asked about a document relating to the payment allegedly bearing a handwritten comment from Niersbach, he said he had no memory of this.
    "As Organising Committee Vice President for Marketing and Media I was only involved in very specific monetary transactions. I ask the Spiegel's editorial department to present this document to us so that we can see what it is about and whether it is my handwriting at all," he said.
    Niersbach said the entire DFB was troubled by the damage done to the memory of the 2006 World Cup that had shown Germany in such a positive light, and that they all wanted a complete elucidation of what happened.
    "We know that we owe this to the public, to fans of German football," he said.
    FIFA was plunged into the biggest crisis of its 111-year history in May, when 14 soccer officials and sports marketing executives were indicted in the United States on bribery, money laundering and wire fraud charges involving more than $150 million in payments.
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