By Andrew Warshaw
March 23 – He may have retired from the international arena as a prominent FIFA member and consistently distanced himself from all manner of allegations about behind-the-scenes wheeler-dealing but is the net finally closing in on the previously untouchable Franz Beckenbauer?
Just like Michel Platini, another footballing icon turned all-powerful administrator, Der Kaiser is now in serious danger of seeing his legendary status fall dramatically to earth.
The gravity of the decision by FIFA’s ethics committee to open “formal proceedings” against Beckenbauer and five other senior members of his 2006 World Cup bid team should not be under-estimated. Ethics prosecutors acted amid rising suspicion of wrongdoing linked to the winning of hosting rights and said that in the case of Beckenbauer and three of the others, investigators would be looking into “possible undue payments and contracts to gain an advantage in the 2006 World Cup host selection and the associated funding.”
The investigation not only undermines a federation long flagged up as being an example to the rest of the world in terms of good governance, one which has been quick in the past to condemn corruption elsewhere, but also places Beckenbauer right at the centre of alleged wrongdoing
Just to recap, Beckenbauer, a former FIFA executive committee member, ran the bid campaign which ultimately pipped South Africa, supported by Nelson Mandela, 12-11. He has vehemently denied any involvement in an alleged secret €6.7 million slush fund first reported by Der Spiegel but has tellingly admitted: “In hindsight I may have made mistakes.”
Will such mistakes come back to haunt him? The 361-page German-commissioned report compiled by the Freshfields law firm and which formed the basis for the FIFA ethics inquiry certainly raises uncomfortable questions about the conduct of Beckenbauer, the only man to captain and coach World Cup-winning teams who then organised arguably the most successful tournament ever.
The report confirmed, for instance, that the payment in question ended up in an account controlled by Qatar’s banned former FIFA powerbroker Mohammed bin Hammam, former president of the Asian Football Confederation, and that it was not intended for the World Cup opening ceremony gala as had been indicated by the organising committee
At every turn, and there have been quite few including having a previous suspension quickly lifted, Beckenbauer has stuck rigidly to his claim of innocence yet the steady flow of adverse publicity is taking its toll. Last month, ethics judges sanctioned him in another case when he was warned and fined SFr7,000 for refusing to co-operate with a FIFA ethics investigation into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests.
That seems likely to have been one of the reasons why he resigned from a television analyst job with the Sky Germany channel, citing the need for a break after being a public figure for 50 years. Another sanction now looks on the cards if he is found guilty. It might be a fine, it might be reprimand.
But it also could be a ban, one which from which his reputation might never recover.
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