International Football
THREE FORMER GERMAN FOOTBALL OFFICIALS INDICTED OVER 2006 WORLD CUP PAYMENT
BY LIAM MORGAN
Three former German football officials have been indicted on fraud charges by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) as part of its investigation into a suspect payment linked to the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
The OAG said it had filed the indictment against former German Football Association (DFB) Presidents Wolfgang Niersbach and Theo Zwanziger and ex-secretary general Horst Schmidt, as well as former Swiss FIFA official Urs Linsi, regarding the €6.7 million (£6.2 million/$7.5 million) payment.
In a statement, the OAG said they are “alleged to have fraudulently misled the members of a supervisory body of the DFB Organising Committee for the 2006 World Cup in Germany in April 2005 about the true purpose” of the payment.
It has been alleged that the money was used to help bribe members of FIFA’s ruling Executive Committee, which has since been rebranded as the Council, who had a vote to decide the host of the 2006 World Cup.
The payment was reportedly made for an opening gala event which never took place.
The four men deny wrongdoing, while the DFB claim the payment was the return of personal loan taken out by Franz Beckenbauer from then Adidas chief executive Robert Louis-Dreyfus, which went through FIFA.
The same sum was allegedly given to banned former FIFA vice-president Mohammed bin Hammam by Beckenbauer.
The OAG said separate proceedings were ongoing against Beckenbauer, who served as the President of the Organising Committee for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup as a player in 1974 and as a manager in 1990, “is unable for health reasons to participate or to be questioned in the main hearing in the Federal Criminal Court”, the OAG added.
In its indictment, the OAG said Schmidt, Zwanziger and Linsi are accused of fraud and Niersbach of being complicit in fraud, while it has dropped allegations of money-laundering.
“The investigations have revealed that in summer 2002 Franz Beckenbauer accepted a loan of CHF10 million (£8.4 million/$10.3 million/€9.1 million) in his own name and for his own account from Robert Louis-Dreyfus,” the OAG added in its statement.
“This sum was used to fund various payments made via a Swiss law firm to a Qatari company belonging to Mohammed Bin Hammam.
“The exact purpose of the total payments of 10 million Swiss francs to Mohammed Bin Hammam could not be determined – also because a corresponding request for mutual legal assistance made by the OAG to the Qatari authorities in September 2016 remained unanswered until today.”
The OAG opened an investigation into the accusations, which prompted Niersbach to resign as DFB President, in 2016.
The German bid defeated South Africa by a narrow margin of 12 votes to 11 back in 2000 after New Zealand’s Charlie Dempsey abstained from the second round of voting after stating there had been “intolerable pressure” prior to the ballot.
A tax office in Frankfurt has already ordered the DFB to pay a total of €19.2 million (£17.1 million/$22.6 million) in back taxes on the payment.
-INSIDETHEGAMES
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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