FIFA's ethics committee on Friday recommended a two-year ban from all football activities for Wolfgang Niersbach, former president of the German Football Association (DFB), over an alleged corruption scandal around the right to host the 2006 World Cup. FIFA's adjudicatory chamber said they had received a final report from world football governing body's ethics committee investigatory chamber and decided to proceed with formal proceedings against Niersbach.
"The investigatory chamber recommends a sanction of a two-year ban from all football-related activity and a fine of CHF 30,000 (27,000 euro, $30,000)," the judging body said. Niersbach, vice-president of the 2006 World Cup organising committee, is still a member of the FIFA Council, and attended last week's Congress in Mexico, as well as being on UEFA's executive committee. He said he would vigorously contest the sanction. "It's a matter of honour and defence of my rights to oppose this request with all possible legal means," Niersbach said in an interview with German news agency SID, a subsidiary of AFP.
"The penalty is incomprehensible. Especially when compared to other cases where the Ethics Commission has not made such harsh judgements in cases of personal advantage and corruption."
"In my case, the charge is based solely on the fact that I did not speak soon enough about things related to the 2006 World Cup," Niersbach continued, adding his "resignation from the presidency of the DFB in November 2015" should suffice. Niersbach, 65, had resigned from the German federation amid accusations the DFB used a slush fund of 10 million Swiss francs (6.7 million euro, $8 million, according to the exchange rate at that time) in 2000 to buy the right to host the 2006 World Cup finals. FIFA opened a probe on March 22 targeting six people including Niersbach and Franz Beckenbauer, the German football legend and World Cup organising committee chief, over their roles in the bidding process, amid allegations of bribery.