During the 2006 World Cup, German media often reported on the VIPs with: “German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German President Horst Koehler and FranzBeckenbauer attended last night’s game.”
They saw no need to identify Beckenbauer, the man who won World Cups for Germany as a player (1974) and a coach (1990), and whose campaigning wascredited with landing Germany as host in 2006.
Even the tournament’s success, remembered fondly by the Germans as “The Summer Fairytale,” was at times attributed toBeckenbauer, who flew around in a Agusta 109 Power E helicopter and attended 48 of the 64 games.
Bild columnist Franz Josef Wagner compared Beckenbauer to former ChancellorHelmut Kohl, who orchestrated the merger of East and West Germany, because this World Cup has “reunified Germany a second time.”
TV pundit and former national team starHansi Mueller said that even the warm, sunny weather that lasted throughout the tournament — it rained the day after the final — was thanks to Beckenbauer: “because everythinghe wants turns out right.”
Now, nearly a decade after it all so well for the chair of the 2006 World Cup organizing committee, Beckenbauer finds himself under scrutiny related to a $7.2million “slush fund” allegedly used to buy votes.
On Oct. 18, Beckenbauer said, “Ihaven’t sent money to anyone to acquire votes for the award of the 2006 World Cup to Germany.”
Since then,
A weeklater, on Nov. 9, Niersbach, who was the DFB general secretary and World Cup organizing committee vice president in 2006, resigned.
“I have recognized the time has come to take the political responsibility for events around the 2006 World Cup,” Niersbach said.
He said he had “absolutely no knowledge of the background to the cash flow”and that he believed he was beyond reproach.
“It is all the more depressing and painful for me to be confronted with transactions in which I was not involved and for which many questions alsoremain open for me,” he said.
The well-respected 65-year-old Niersbach, who has spent three decades serving the DFB, is also a UEFA and FIFA executive committee member. There was talk of himbecoming UEFA president and even being the man who could lead FIFA out of its malaise. But now …
“He’s gone from world soccer savior to summer fairytale scapegoat,”
Meanwhile, all eyes have moved on toBeckenbauer. His reticence over the past weeks, offering only a few short statements, has the media demanding an explanation. And on Tuesday, the heat was turned up on the man known as Kaiser sincehis early playing days.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung and Bildnewspaper, for which Beckenbauer has long written a column, revealed the smoking gun. They reported that Beckenbauer’s signature was on a draft contract with former FIFA official JackWarner, the Trinidadian charged with with wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering and facing extradition to the USA.
The draft contract reportedly promised Warner friendly games and tickets. It’s dated a few daysbefore the July 6, 2000 vote on hosting the 2006 World Cup. The vote that Germany won, 12-11, over South Africa.
Süddeutsche Zeitung called it “an explosive document” that “insiders describe as a typeof bribe.”
DFB interim president Rainer Koch has calledon Beckenbauer to respond: “Our request is that he gets more intensively involved in clearing up the affair.”
“There is no other way, there are others who know more than WolfgangNiersbach,” said Dagmar Freitag, the German parliament’s sports committee chairman.
And while they wait for Beckenbauer’s explanation, German satirical paper
“This has taken many of his subjects by surprise because they have not lived under another Kaiser.”
Time for the Swiss authorities to put FIFA in receivership, appoint a well-respected businessman to straighten out the business side of things, and let the prosecutors clean up the mess.
Did not win it all..wonder if this is why Klinnsmann got canned at Bayern…….
No he got canned at Bayern because he’s a lousy coach. Read Lahm’s book. Look at his record with the USMNT.
Beckenbauer had a lot to do with it…..