German football bosses fined over 2006 World Cup scandal

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Frankfurt's Regional Court ruled on Wednesday that the German Football Association (DFB) must pay a fine of €130,000 ($151,000) for the misconduct of its former top officials.

The public prosecutor's office had accused the DFB of evading around €2.7 million in taxes and demanded that the FA pay a fine of €270,000. The defense rejected the charge of intentional tax evasion and called for an acquittal.

Of the three defendants initially named, none remained in the dock at the conclusion of the 33-day trial. The proceedings against two former DFB presidents, Theo Zwanziger and Wolfgang Niersbach, as well as the vice president of the organizing committee for the 2006 World Cup, Horst R. Schmidt, had earlier been dropped in return for the payment of fines. Zwanziger paid €10,000, Niersbach €25,000, and Schmidt €65,000.

Zwanziger, his successor Wolfgang Niersbach, who resigned as DFB president in 2015 as a result of the affair, and Schmidt, who is also a former DFB general secretary, had all been accused of arranging for an incorrect tax return submitted for 2006 to allow the FA to avoid paying millions in taxes.

The tax return included a €6.7 million payment from the DFB to football's world governing body FIFA. The DFB claimed the money was to pay for a World Cup gala – an event that never took place.

The payment triggered investigations over allegations it had been used as a slush fund to buy votes in favor of Germany's bid to host the 2006 tournament.

A DFB-commissioned investigation in 2016 found the sum was the return of a loan via FIFA from former Adidas chief Robert Louis-Dreyfus.

The German tax office ordered the DFB in 2017 to pay more than €20 million in back taxes related to the year 2006.

The 2006 World Cup is popularly known in Germany as the "summer fairy tale" because of the home team's run to the semi-finals, and the sold-out stadiums and outdoor viewing areas across the country which attracted hundreds of thousands of fans.