Dubai: Germany legend Oliver Bierhoff is confident the 2006 Fifa World Cup wasn’t bought because bid committee members Franz Beckenbauer and Wolfgang Niersbach are “honest people”.
Former World Cup-winning defender and coach Beckenbauer and president of the German Football Association (DFB) Niersbach were forced to issue vehement denials this week when it was alleged by German weekly Der Spiegel that they knew about a supposed £4.9 million (Dh27.8 million) slush fund used to buy votes from Fifa officials during the World Cup bidding process.
Beckenbauer’s name has since appeared on a list of individuals currently under investigation by the Fifa ethics committee, although it has not been revealed why he is under investigation or what it is in relation to.
Speaking on the sidelines of Gitex Technology Week at Dubai World Trade Centre this week, Bierhoff, 47 — who was at the event to deliver a speech on how technology had impacted on sport — said he believed the tournament wasn’t bought and welcomed transparency on the issue.
“German media and the public is very critical, which is important because it helps us to go through [the situation] and the DFB have decided that we have to see what was happening,” said the former striker, who is business manager of the Germany national team and was an international ambassador for the now suspect 2006 bid.
“We have to be open, which should happen also at Fifa — fans have to understand what’s going on. But as Franz Beckenbauer and Wolfgang Niersbach said, they are sure there was no buying of the World Cup and I believe them because they are honest people.”
In a separate scandal, Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger this week hinted that the Gunners were beaten by more than one doped player in their 2-1 Uefa Champions League group opening defeat away to Dinamo Zagreb last month. So far, only Croatian midfielder Arijan Ademi has failed a drugs test but Wenger used plurals instead of singulars to describe the incident.
Of Wenger’s perceived hint at more widespread drug use in football, Bierhoff said he didn’t think doping was as systematic as implied.
“I was a professional for 17 years and it’s never happened to me and I’ve never seen something,” he said. “But we are all human beings and you never know what’s going on.
“I don’t think it’s systematic like it is in other sports, but you can never be sure and for that it’s important that football isn’t closing themselves and saying it’s not as issue for us. It’s an issue for every sport and every sport has to show that they are not doing anything to cover these things.”
