German legend Franz Beckenbauer has had his 90-day ban from any football-related activity lifted by FIFA, his manager said on Friday in a statement posted on Twitter. Beckenbauer was suspended by world football's governing body on June 13 for breaching FIFA's code of ethics by his apparent refusal to cooperate in an investigation into the awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the controversial decision to give the 2022 tournament to Qatar.
"I underestimated the case, especially because all these administrative issues are usually handled by my management," Beckenbauer said in the statement posted by his manager Marcus Hoefl on Twitter. The 68-year-old Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup as a player in 1974 and as a coach in 1990, was on the FIFA executive board in 2010 when the 2022 tournament was awarded to Qatar.
He has always refused to declare who he voted for, but has expressed surprise at Qatar's victory. Beckenbauer left the FIFA executive in 2011, but remains on FIFA's football committee. Beckenbauer, known as "the Kaiser", refused to cooperate with Michael Garcia the former US federal prosecutor who headed an investigation in the votes for Qatar and Russia. "FIFA have told Franz Beckenbauer that the provisional suspension announced on June 13 ... was lifted with immediate effect," Hoefl said in the statement.
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