FIFA Opens Investigation Into Germany’s 2016 World Cup Bid

German football legend Franz Beckenbauer is one of four officials to be investigated by FIFA following “possible undue payments and contracts” relating to the awarding of the 2006 World Cup tournament.

Germany beat South Africa to win the rights to the tournament in 2000 but reports in October last year claimed a
slush fund of 10.3 million Swiss francs had been set up to buy votes.

The German Football Association (DFB) denied this but FIFA’s ethics committee has opened formal proceedings against six officials in total after examining a report commissioned by the DFB.

Beckenbauer, the former DFB president Theo Zwanziger, the former secretary general Horst Schmidt and former chief
finance officer Stefan Hans will be investigated by FIFA. All were involved in Germany’s World Cup local organising
committee, of which Beckenbauer was president.

FIFA’s investigatory chamber will also open proceedings against Wolfgang Niersbach, the former president of the DFB and current member of the Fifa and UEFA executive committees, and the former DFB secretary general Helmut Sandrock. The pair will be investigated for a “possible failure to report a breach” of the ethics code. Niersbach, who stepped down as president of the DFB in November, has previously insisted that the organising committee had acted both “fairly” and “legally”, saying: “The World Cup was not bought. What was a summer fairytale remains a summer fairytale.”

However, Zwanziger later stated that a slush fund had existed.

A FIFA statement read: “In the cases of Messrs Niersbach and Sandrock, the investigatory chamber will investigate a
possible failure to report a breach of the Fifa code of ethics, which could constitute a breach of art. 13 (General rules of conduct), art. 15 (Loyalty), art. 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperating and reporting) and art. 19 (Conflicts of interest)
of the FCE.”

“In the cases of Mr Beckenbauer, Dr Zwanziger, Mr Schmidt and Mr Hans, the investigatory chamber will investigate
possible undue payments and contracts to gain an advantage in the 2006 FIFA World Cup host selection and the associated funding, which could constitute a breach of arts 13, 15, 18 and 19 as well as art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) and art. 21 (Bribery and corruption) of the Fifa code of ethics.”

In October, Beckenbauer rejected allegations of corruption, saying: “I never gave money to anyone in order to acquire votes so that Germany is awarded the 2006 World Cup. And I am certain that no other member of the bid committee did something like that.”

In November, German police raided the Frankfurt headquarters of the DFB and searched the homes of officials on suspicion of tax evasion linked to the awarding of the tournament, with documents and hard drives seized according to the German news agency DPA.

Paul Ayorinde

German Football Association Raided By Police

The German Police have raided the headquarters of the German football association as part of ongoing investigationS into the the FIFA 2006 World Cup hosting scandal.

Its believed that the German Police authorities also raided raided the homes about three other suspects believed to be former top members of the DFB and even serving DFB members.

The police are looking into possible tax evasion offences as it concerns a certain 6.7-million-euro payment made to FIFA by the then World Cup organizing committee in the year 2005.

The suspects are being investigated for “submitting inaccurate tax returns in their previous responsibilities”

This is obviously a fall-out of the allegations that the German football association paid bribes to win the hosting right of the FIFA World Cup which the European Country hosted in 2006

The German football association has however said it is cooperating with the probe.

NFF Seeks Closer Ties With German Football

In its relentless quest to take Nigeria football to a new level, the Nigeria Football Federation has moved to formalize much closer relationship with current world champions, Germany in all football matters.

At a lunch –time meeting with the Ambassador of Germany to Nigeria, Mr. Dietmar Kreusel on Tuesday, top officials of the NFF led by the President, Mr. Amaju Pinnick, were on the same page as they praised the giant marks that Germany has made in world football.

“Germany is not only the reigning champions of the world in football, it is also a very strong economic power. We have come here to express our intention to make Germany our model for development of the game of football.

“We keenly desire to partner with the DFB (Germany Football Federation) and the German League. The NFF is presently doing a lot in the area of development of the game in Nigeria. Now, we are requesting for support for our development programme for women’s football, as well as capacity building for our referees and coaches.”

As he has done in several fora in the past months, Pinnick underscored the importance of Nigeria in the comity of nations, and reiterated that the emphasis of the present NFF administration is on youth development and making the League the main hub for our National Teams.

“In view of our various programmes, we are requesting that Your Excellency initiate an easier procedure for our officials – NFF Executive Committee members, Management and Staff – to secure entry visas into Germany for football programmes.”

NFF 2nd Vice President/Chairman, League Management Company, Mr. Shehu Dikko added: “Our checks have shown that the Bundesliga is the top model League in the universe. The NPFL is ready to adopt this model.

Amaju Pinnick with Dietmar Kreusel

“We have had discussions with the CEO of the Bundesliga, and our plan involves sending some of our club managers to Germany to go and see how it is done in that country. “

Ambassador Kreusel, who confirmed that he is a big supporter of German Bundesliga club, Mainz 05 (the club of Super Eagles’ defender Leon Balogun), assured that the requests by the NFF leadership would be looked into.

“Nigeria and Germany have always maintained very close relations. I recall that one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s first visits outside Nigeria after inauguration was to Germany. That shows how close our ties are.”

NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi thanked the ambassador for receiving the team. Also on the visit were NFF Executive Committee members High Chief Emeka Inyama and Mrs Dilichukwu Onyedinma, and LMC chief operations officer Salihu Abubakar.