The German soccer federation, renowned for its efficiency and ability to turn out world championship teams, has become embroiled in controversy over the organization of the 2006 World Cup and hastaken the extraordinary step of suing Franz Beckenbauer, former captain and coach of world championship teams and head of the 2006 organizing committee, and FIFA as a defensive measure.
The case surrounds a $7.3 million payment from the organizing committee to FIFA in 2005 that is alleged to have been a bribe in connection with the awarding of the tournament to Germany and hasensnared Beckenbauer and former DFB executives Theo Zwanziger, Wolfgang Niersbach, Horst R. Schmidt and Fedor Radmann.
The DFB suit is a preemptive measure toprevent the statute of limitations from running out. It wants to be able to collect damages of 25 million euros ($27.5 million) if its non-profit status is retroactively revoked.