By Mark Baber
February 9 – The German Football Federation (DFB) has confirmed that it has launched legal proceedings against the 2006 World Cup Organizing Committee, which includes Franz Beckenbauer and former DFB presidents Theo Zwanziger and Wolfgang Niersbach, as well as Horst R. Schmidt and Fedor Radmann in order to protect itself from potential damages of up to €25 million.
In a statement the DFB confirmed: “The DFB has taken necessary measures to prevent the statute of limitation from running out” on possible legal action against former German soccer great Beckenbauer and FIFA.
The proceedings, filed at a Hamburg court in late 2015, reportedly include starting conciliatory proceedings against FIFA and the World Cup 2006 Organising Committee, a step necessary to protect the interests of the DFB in the event its non-profit status be retroactively revoked which could lead to penalties of €25 million.
The action revolves around a dubious payment of €6.7 million ($7.3 million) which was made by the World Cup Organising Committee (headed by Beckenbauer) to FIFA in 2005 with the suggestion being that bribery was involved in Germany’s 12-11 victory over South Africa in the voting to determine the host of the 2006 tournament.
Beckenbauer has publicly denied there was any slush fund but Rainer Koch, one of the two acting vice presidents of the DFB, revealed in a statement that Beckenbauer had signed a contractual agreement, promising a range of services to former FIFA Vice President Jack Warner ahead of the 2006 hosting vote.
The news of the action against Beckenbauer, one of the all-time legends of the game, will further diminish the standing of the former German captain, who has already been damaged by his refusal to cooperate with the Garcia investigation into the Qatar World Cup which triggered a FIFA ban.
The Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer law firm has been investigating the payment to FIFA, the various claims as to the origin of the money and the roles of the various people involved including Adidas, FIFA and the DFB with their report is due to be made public on March 4.
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