German football has been plunged into a corruption crisis after its national association was forced to deny allegations that a secret slush fund was set up to buy votes for the 2006 World Cup.
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German magazine Der Spiegel said its has documents detailing a €6.7 million (Dh27.9m) fund that was set up using money provided by then-Adidas chief executive Robert Louis-Dreyfus, acting in a private capacity.
It claimed the money was later re-paid to Dreyfus in 2005 using FIFA as cover – the German World Cup organising committee made a €6.7m contribution for a gala opening ceremony at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium which was later cancelled.
Der Spiegel said the money was paid into a FIFA bank account in Geneva and from there transferred to a Zurich account belonging to Louis-Dreyfus, who has since died.
BREAKING: FIFA will investigate ‘serious allegations’ that Germany secured 2006 World Cup with bribes.
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Der Spiegel claimed 2006 World Cup organising committee president Franz Beckenbauer and German Football Association (DFB) president Wolfgang Niersbach – who is also a UEFA and FIFA executive committee member – were aware of the slush fund by 2005. Neither has responded to the claim.
The DFB has insisted the money was not in exchange for votes but is investigating whether the €6.7m “may potentially not have been used for the intended purpose”.
Der Spiegel said the €6.7m never appeared in the 2006 bidding committee’s budget or that of the organising committee.
Germany won the vote for the 2006 World Cup by 12 votes to 11, narrowly beating South Africa after New Zealand’s Charles Dempsey unexpectedly returned home early and did not cast his vote. He has also since died.
Meanwhile, Sepp Blatter has claimed a 2m Swiss franc payment to Michel Platini which has seen the pair provisionally suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee was part of a “gentleman’s agreement” between the two of them. The money was paid to UEFA president Platini in 2011, more than nine years after he had finished working for Blatter.
Blatter told Swiss TV station RROTV: “It was a contract I had with Michel Platini, a gentleman’s agreement, and that was followed through on.”
