Astonishing reports allege Germany might have bribed its way to hosting 2006 FIFA World Cup

Franz Beckenbauer(R) and Wolfgang Niersbach(L) have been dragged into the controversy surrounding the 2006 FIFA World Cup

German Football has been thrown into turmoil as news emerged that there might have been foul play when Germany narrowly won the right to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup as reported by German magazine Der Spiegel, which is based in Hamburg. The magazine alleged that the German bidding committee might have used a slush fund to land the rights to host the premier footballing spectacle in 2006.

The magazine also alleges that Franz Beckenbauer, German football legend and head of the bidding committee and Wolfgang Niersbach, the current head of the German Football Federation (DFB), and other high-ranking football officials were aware of the slush fund. These serious allegations are bound to have profound implications as it has been the biggest football-related scandal to emerge from Germany since the Bundesliga bribery scandal of the 1970’s.

The plot of the alleged wrongdoings

It was reported the German bidding committee had set up a slush fund to which a sum of 10.3 million Swiss Francs was loaned by the then CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus of Adidas, sports apparel giants and official sponsors of the German national football team, prior to awarding of the hosting rights on July 6, 2000. However, the loan never appeared in the bidding committee's budget after the tournament had been awarded to Germany or in that of the Organizing Committee(OK).

The plot gets murkier as a year and a half earlier to the World Cup, Louis-Dreyfus called in the loan, which by then had a value of €6.7 million. Officials at OK, of which Beckenbauer had become president and Niersbach vice president, began looking for a way in 2005 to pay back the illicit funds in an inconspicuous manner.

Internal documents show that a cover was created with the help of global football organizing body FIFA to facilitate the payment. Using the cover, the Germans made a €6.7 million contribution for a gala FIFA Opening Ceremony that had been planned at Berlin's Olympic Stadium but was later canceled. The money had been paid into a FIFA bank account in Geneva. From there, FIFA allegedly transferred the money to a Zurich account belonging to Louis-Dreyfus.

It is being suspected that this loan was used to bribe Asian representatives on the 24 member FIFA Executive Committee in exchange for their votes to help award the hosting rights for football’s biggest carnival in 2006 to Germany. The Germans eventually won the bidding process beating favorites South Africa 12-11.

Will investigate claims: FIFA

The allegations of corruption could not have come at a more disturbing time for world football’s governing body FIFA whose reputation is already in tatters regarding alleged corruption by their top officials including president Sepp Blatter, vice president Michel Platini and Secretary General Jerome Valcke among others. It would seem that FIFA is going through its biggest crisis since its inception over 111 years ago.

However, a FIFA official told Reuters, "These are very serious allegations. They will be reviewed as part of the independent internal investigation currently being conducted by FIFA under the direction of its legal director with the assistance of outside counsel.

German FA reacts to allegations

The German Football Association(DFB) has responded to the allegations following an internal investigation into the matter. It has found that there had not been any wrongdoing on the part of the OK in winning the hosting rights for the 2006 World Cup.

"With the ongoing investigation in relation to FIFA and because of more speculation in the media, the German Football Association (DFB) looked internally at the awarding of the 2006 World Cup," it said in a statement.

"Within the framework of these investigations the DFB found no indication of irregularities while there was equally no indication whatsoever that votes of delegates were bought.”

However, the DFB also revealed that investigations were still underway as to how the payment of 6.7 million euros from the Organising Committee to FIFA for a cultural programme was used.

Italy won the 2006 FIFA World Cup that was held in Germany against France in a match which saw French legend Zinedine Zidane’s infamous headbutt on Italy’s Marco Materazzi in the former’s last ever game as a player following his illustrious career.