December 16 – As widely anticipated, German football supremo Wolfgang Niersbach, not so long ago touted as a possible UEFA president in succession to Michel Platini, has lost his appeal against a one-year ban in relation to Germany’s 2006 World Cup bid.
During the summer, in the first sanction resulting from an official investigation into the bid process, FIFA’s ethics committee found Niersbach guilty of failing to report findings about possible unethical conduct and conflicts of interest during the bidding process which ended with Germany beating South Africa 12-11 in a head-to-head vote.
Niersbach promptly appealed but FIFA says its appeal committee, chaired by Bermuda’s Larry Mussenden, agreed with the ethics committee “that after careful analysis and consideration of all mitigating circumstances a one-year ban from taking part in any football-related activity at national and international level was adequate in this case.”
Niersbach, whose suspension runs until July 25 next year, was a vice president of the 2006 World Cup organising committee, in charge of media and marketing. He was the first member of the newly established FIFA Council, which replaced the discredited executive committee in May, to be sanctioned by the ethics panel.
Niersbach resigned just over a year ago as German federation president after three years in charge and much speculation will now focus on what happens to his elected positions on the top tables of FIFA and UEFA. In all likelihood, he will be replaced by his DFB successor, Reinhard Grindel when UEFA holds its congress on April 5 in Helsinki.
Niersbach is also under investigation in both Germany and Switzerland over his role in the 2006 scandal which was prompted by a €6.7 million payment alleged to have been a secret slush fund to buy votes but which German authorities insist was a return of a loan from former Adidas owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus.
Germany ended up winning the ballot for 2006 hosting by a single vote over South Africa and Niersbach is one of six prominent German officials, most notably former bid chief Frank Beckenbauer, probed in the wake of an internal inquiry commissioned by the German FA.
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