Franz Beckenbauer opens up about controversial payment to FIFA

Beckenbauer talks about his involvement with the €6.7-million payment to FIFA

Franz Beckenbauer admitted that the German Football association DFB made a mistake of paying €6.7-million (£4.8-million) to FIFA but denied any claims of the money being used for buying votes for hosting the 2006 World Cup, according to the Guardian. Earlier this month, Germany’s Spiegel revealed former CEO of Adidas Robert Louis-Dreyfus set up a slush fund to aid the cause. Dreyfus who called in the loan a year before the World Cup was paid back through the world football governing body.

Beckenbauer, who is Bayern Munich’s honorary president, has faced a lot of criticism over the dealing as he was the head of the bidding committee at the time, and went on to be part of the tournament’s organisation committee. The 70-year old who was clearly agitated of being slandered broke his silence on the slush fund on Monday.

While speaking with the Bild, he said: “I, as the president of the organisation committee at the time, carry the responsibility for this mistake.

“In order to obtain financial support from Fifa a suggestion by Fifa’s finance commission was followed which, in hindsight, should have been rejected. No votes were bought in order to win the right to stage the 2006 World Cup.”

Wolfgang Niersbach talks about his knowledge of the payment

The president of the German Football Association Wolfgang Niersbach, who was also accused of being party to the conspiracy, admitted that he too had made some errors at the time. He said it was “without a doubt an oversight on my part not to have informed my colleagues on the board early enough”. He added: “I’ve got to take responsibility for that.”

The DFB launched an investigation earlier this month following the incident’s media outburst on the particular incident. The governing body has confirmed that the payment did, in fact, go to FIFA but found no evidence suggesting that it was used to secure votes in the bidding process.

Peter Freymuth: Nobody at the DFB looking for successor to Niersbach

Peter Freymuth, who is the vice-president of the DFB, stood by Niersbach and stated that the 64-year old was not going to be replaced anytime soon.

“There was and there is no call for him to resign,” Freymuth told the Rheinische Post newspaper. “Nobody at the DFB is looking for a successor to him either. It certainly isn’t a good time for the association but we as a team are insisting on this being cleared up transparently and Wolfgang Niersbach, as president, is part of that.

“We want to and will continue with him. Clearly there are others who are not so interested in this being cleared up and are only intent on causing disturbances. Yes, some people on the board are disappointed but there has never been a discussion among this group of potential successors [to Niersbach].”

Freymuth has also requested Gunter Netzer and Beckenbauer to aid in the ongoing investigation.

“In the interests of football there has got to be a quick but also thorough investigation,” Freymuth said. “That also means that Beckenbauer and Netzer have got to contribute. It’s all about faith in football.”