FIFA Took Bribes Over Germany’s 2006 World Cup Bid, Report Says

The German committee responsible for organizing the country’s bid for the 2006 World Cup created a slush fund it used to bribe FIFA officials, according to a new report.

The German magazine Der Spiegel reports, citing internal documents, that the German bidding committee paid to secure the votes of four Asian members of the 24-person FIFA Executive Committee, the global organizing entity that oversees international soccer.

Before the bid was given to Germany in July 2000, the report continues, then-CEO of Adidas Robert Louis-Dreyfus secretly bankrolled the slush fund with a loan of 10.3 million Swiss Francs, or roughly six million U.S. dollars.

FIFA has said it would review the allegations, the latest charges of corruption for an organization which has already seen several senior officials indicted on corruption charges by both the U.S. Justice Department and Swiss officials.

[Der Spiegel]