By Andrew Warshaw
October 19 – Franz Beckenbauer and Wolfgang Niersbach, the two men at the centre of the explosive cash for votes allegations over the 2006 World Cup, have both vehemently denied any wrongdoing as FIFA admitted it was examining the claims made by Der Spiegel.
The publication claimed last week that a slush fund had been set up with €6.7 million loaned by the late Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus so that Germany’s 2006 World Cup bid committee could buy votes to land the tournament ahead of the ballot six years earlier.
In one of the tightest votes in World Cup history, Germany upset favourites South Africa 12-11, with New Zealand’s Charles Dempsey famously abstaining and flying out of Zurich an hour before the ballot.
Der Spiegel claims that Beckenbauer, who was head of the 2006 organising committee, was aware of the fund as was Niersbach, Beckenbauer’s vice-president and current head of the German Football Association (DFB).
Der Spiegel cited internal documents from the DFB for its claims but Beckenbauer, who led West Germany to the World Cup title as captain in 1974 and again as coach in 1990 and is arguably the most influential figure in the history of German football, refuted them totally.
“I never gave money to anyone in order to acquire votes so that Germany is awarded the 2006 World Cup,” he declared. “And I am certain that no other member of the bid committee did something like that.”
Niersbach, a former communications chief who has worked his way steadily up the ladder to become Germany’s most important figure as a member of FIFA’s executive committee, has already reportedly ordered his lawyers to take legal action against the magazine.
Der Spiegel said the slush fund was set up to buy the votes of the four Asian representatives on FIFA’s 24-member executive committee at the time. The news magazine claimed that the €6.7 million payment by the German local organising committee to FIFA in 2005 was a means of repaying money that had been put up initially by Louis-Dreyfus, the then owner and CEO of Adidas. The DFB said on Friday its own internal investigation had found no wrongdoing but that it was looking into whether the payment in question, for a cultural programme, was used as intended.
In an interview published on the DFB’s own website, Niersbach, in Zurich this week to attend FIFA’s emergency exco meeting, said he could “definitely rule out that the payment was related to the awarding of the World Cup in 2000, due to the timing of the payment process.”
“We believe that absolutely the best candidate was chosen on merit and we have won with our arguments for the choice of Germany as host by 12:11.”
South Africa, which finally secured its dream of staging the World Cup four years later, has long been bemused by how it failed to gain the votes of the four Asian exco members in 2006, having been convinced the night before the ballot that Asia was supporting its bid en bloc.
South African officials privately conceded at the time that Asia’s sudden u-turn was more of a body blow than Dempsey’s abstention despite being advised by his country to vote for them.
But slamming Der Spiegel’s allegations, Niersbach said: “Spiegel has refered to evidence but has relied ultimately on an allegations from an anonymous source. The World Cup was not bought. This hurts and we are all deeply concerned that the memory of such a wonderful summer party for our country should be sullied more than nine years later.”
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