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German bid likely used slush fund to buy votes for 2006 World Cup, claims report
Source: The Guardian and agencies
German bid likely used slush fund to buy votes for 2006 World Cup, claims report
Guardian sport and agencies
Friday 16 October 2015 16.20 BST
The former chief executive of Adidas Robert Louis-Dreyfus set up a 10.3m Swiss francs (€6.7m) slush fund which was likely used by the German World Cup bidding committee to buy votes and secure the right to stage the 2006 tournament, according to a report in Germany.
Louis-Dreyfus, a former majority shareholder in the French club Marseille, who died in 2009, is claimed to have borrowed the money and lent it to the bidding committee. Der Spiegel says it appears the money was used to secure the votes of four members of the Fifa executive committee.
Louis-Dreyfus is said to have called in the loan a year and a half before the World Cup and Der Spiegel alleges that the money was returned to him via Fifa.
The German World Cup organising committee made a €6.7m contribution for a gala opening ceremony at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium which was later cancelled. Der Spiegel said the money was paid into a Fifa bank account in Geneva and from there transferred to a Zurich account belonging to Louis-Dreyfus.
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Guardian sport and agencies
Friday 16 October 2015 16.20 BST
The former chief executive of Adidas Robert Louis-Dreyfus set up a 10.3m Swiss francs (€6.7m) slush fund which was likely used by the German World Cup bidding committee to buy votes and secure the right to stage the 2006 tournament, according to a report in Germany.
Louis-Dreyfus, a former majority shareholder in the French club Marseille, who died in 2009, is claimed to have borrowed the money and lent it to the bidding committee. Der Spiegel says it appears the money was used to secure the votes of four members of the Fifa executive committee.
Louis-Dreyfus is said to have called in the loan a year and a half before the World Cup and Der Spiegel alleges that the money was returned to him via Fifa.
The German World Cup organising committee made a €6.7m contribution for a gala opening ceremony at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium which was later cancelled. Der Spiegel said the money was paid into a Fifa bank account in Geneva and from there transferred to a Zurich account belonging to Louis-Dreyfus.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/16/german-fa-buy-votes-2006-world-cup
2 replies
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Louis-Dreyfus#Personal
So why wasn't she wearing a Marseilles kit in Steinbrenner's box instead of the O's cap?
Louis-Dreyfus has been married twice. After divorcing his first wife, Sarah Oberholzer, in 1989, he met his second wife Margarita Bogdanova, who he married in 1992 and with whom he had three sons: Eric, Maurice, and Kyril. Louis-Dreyfus identified as an agnostic. Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus is his cousin.
So why wasn't she wearing a Marseilles kit in Steinbrenner's box instead of the O's cap?
