Beckenbauer admits personal ‘mistake,’ says there was no vote buying

“As president of the organising committee at that time, I take responsibility for this mistake”.

Franz Beckenbauer has denied accusations that votes for Germany’s successful 2006 World Cup winning bid were bought.

“In order to get a subsidy from Federation Internationale de Football Association [for the organisation of the 2006 World Cup] those involved went ahead with a proposal from the Federation Internationale de Football Association finance commission that in today’s eyes should have been rejected”.

Ten days ago, the magazine Spiegel broke open a can of worms by claiming the DFB had used a slush fund to buy votes in order to host the 2006 tournament.

Former DFB president Theo Zwanziger has backed der Spiegel’s assertion there was a slush fund and claimed that Niersbach knew about it in 2005.

Niersbach claims the committee obtained a grant of 250 million Swiss francs in return for the payment in question, a sum that would now amount to €6.7 million.

As reported by Rob Harris of the Associated Press, Beckenbauer is also under investigation for allegedly obstructing the ongoing investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, to be held in Russian Federation and Qatar, respectively.

Earlier on Monday, DFB vice-president Peter Freymuth said he does not see any reason why Niersbach should step down. “Nobody at the DFB is looking for a successor to him either”.

“We want to and will continue with him”.

“Yes, a few people on the board are disappointed, but there has never been a discussion among this group of potential successors”.

“In the interests of football, there has got to be a quick but also thorough investigation”, said Freymuth. “It’s all about faith in football”.