Tuesday, March 8, 2016

More questions are raised about Beckenbauer's role (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this July 6, 2000 file picture FIFA president Joseph Blatter, left, hands over the World Cup documents to Franz Beckenbauer of the German delegation in Zurich, Switzerland, after soccer's world governing body FIFA announced Germany will host the soccer World Cup 2006. An inquiry into bribery allegations surrounding Germany's successful bid for the 2006 World Cup has raised more uncomfortable questions for Franz Beckenbauer and the soccer great's role in complex financial deals before the tournament. To the relief of the football establishment and ordinary Germans, the inquiry found no evidence of vote buying ahead of the tournament, although the probe could not rule it out either. (AP Photo/Diether Endlicher,file)

From his days as the backbone of the defense to his days roaming the sidelines, Franz Beckenbauer has been synonymous with the best of German soccer. ''Der Kaiser'' won the World Cup as a player and a coach, and then brought soccer's marquee tournament back to his homeland as leader of the 2006 bid committee. It's in that role, in which Beckenbauer worked with FIFA and other corrupt world soccer officials, that the former Bayern Munich great's image could be stained.


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