October 16 – Concerns over yet another possible FIFA cash-for-votes scandal have been dismissed by the German Football Association (DFB) which says it has found no indication of wrongdoing in the bid process for the 2006 World Cup which it hosted.
Germany sneaked home 12-11 ahead of South Africa in the ballot held in 2000 and the DFB admitted today it had been internally investigating a €6.7 million payment from the 2006 World Cup organising committee to FIFA the year before the tournament and whether or not it was mis-used.
The DFB said it had “become aware” during an internal audit that the funds may not have “been used for their intended purpose” but categorically denied any vote trading.
“After thorough examination and auditing, the DFB have found no evidence of any irregularities. Furthermore, there is no evidence that whatsoever that votes of delegates had been bought.”
“Through the investigations, DFB became aware that a €6.7 million payment, which was paid to FIFA in April 2005 by the organisational committee of the 2006 World Cup, may not have been used for its intended purpose (the FIFA culture programme). This payment was in no way linked to the awarding of the 2006 World Cup, which had been decided five years previously.”
The DFB said it was “responding to the investigations into FIFA and due to the repeated assumptions being raised by the media” that it had acted improperly to obtain the right to stage the 2006 tournament, adding that it has “been dealing internally with the awarding of the 2006 World Cup for several months.”
Despite the German FA’s statement, the influential Der Spiegel publication alleged the money represented a slush fund with the involvement of former Adidas chief Robert Louis-Dreyfus.
If true, it would spell disaster for German legend Franz Beckenbauer, who ran Germany’s 2006 World Cup bid, and current German FA boss and FIFA exco member Wolfgang Niersbach who was vice-president of the organising committee.
Der Spiegel claims the loan was used to secure the votes of the four Asian representatives in the 24-member FIFA Executive Committee at the time of the ballot which took place in 2000. Germany edged home 12-11 in the final round against South Africa who had been convinced they had secured Asian backing while New Zealander Charles Dempsey famously abstained claiming he had received death threats.
As well as Beckenbauer and Niersbach, who was also communications chief, the main players in the 2006 organising committee were Horst Schmidt, then DFB general secretary, and Theo Zwanziger, until recently a FIFA exco member.
Der Spiegel, which did not identify its sources, said Beckenbauer and Niersbach were aware of the loan from Louis-Dreyfus who allegedly got his money back in 2005 via a FIFA payment disguised as funds for its cultural programme during the tournament itself.
But the DFB totally rejected what it described as “the completely groundless allegations of the magazine Der Spiegel that there were ‘slush funds’ in relation to the bid committee of the 2006 World Cup.”
“It equally vehemently rejects the authors’ conclusions drawn without any facts that votes were bought for the World Cup. The DFB clearly repeats that neither the DFB president nor the other members of the organising committee were involved in such actions or knew about them.”
Adidas, a long-time DFB sponsor, said it was unaware of any payment. “We know nothing of such a payment from Robert Louis-Dreyfus,” an Adidas official told Reuters. “We can rule out that this is part of Adidas AG business process.”
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