ACTUALITE |
22.04.2003
Germany deny 2006 allegations
Franz Beckenbauer has rejected newspaper allegations which claimed Germany influenced the 2006 World Cup vote by offering countries friendlies against Bayern Munich.
South Africa lost the bid to host the 2006 World Cup finals by a single vote despite being strong favourites to host the event.
Munich-based newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung has alleged that the football associations of Malta, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago each received between $250,000 and $300,000 from TV rights for friendlies that Bayern agreed to play.
All four associations had a vote when it came to deciding who should host the finals.
But Germany`s World Cup organisers said it was a "normal business" practice for Bayern to negotiate similar deals and that it had not affected the vote.
Bayern played Thailand in June 2000, Malta in January 2001 and Tunis club Esperance in the same month, although they did not play Trinidad.
Former Bayern president Beckenbauer was the man behind Germany`s World Cup bid, but he denied any wrongdoing.
"Whoever says you can get a World Cup with friendlies has no idea what he`s talking about," Beckenbauer told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
Beckenbauer said he had managed to persuade Fifa members to vote for Germany "by not getting on their nerves" and instead talking with them in "a relaxed atmosphere while playing golf".
A Fifa spokesman told Reuters that world soccer`s governing body was happy with the way the vote was conducted and had done "everything to make the vote watertight from a legal and procedural point of view in every aspect".
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Hits: 1 | Source:BBC | |
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