Former presidents of the German Football Association (DFB), Theo Zwanziger and Wolfgang Niersbach, along with a former secretary general, are to be tried on Monday, facing accusations of tax evasion in connection with the organisation of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
At the core of this lengthy legal saga, which has spanned several years and involved various investigations, including one commissioned by the DFB, is a payment of 6.7 million euros ($7.27 million) tied to a World Cup-related event that never occurred.
Niersbach, who stepped down as DFB president in 2015 due to this scandal, his predecessor Zwanziger, and former secretary general Horst Schmidt are alleged to have orchestrated the submission of inaccurate tax returns for 2006, allowing the DFB to evade paying millions in taxes.
Despite the accusations, Niersbach, Zwanziger, and Schmidt maintain their innocence.
According to prosecutors, the tax return included a 6.7 million euro payment from the DFB to FIFA for the 2006 event, although the funds were actually used for a different purpose and should not have been used to offset taxes.
“I always wished for the truth to be on the table. That goes only through an open process,” Zwanziger told reporters as he arrived in court.
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“As I am certain that I did not evade any tax—and only that is the matter at hand here—I am relaxed going into this process.”
The payment had sparked numerous investigations in recent years amid allegations that it was utilised as a slush fund to secure votes in support of Germany’s bid to host the 2006 tournament.
A probe commissioned by the DFB in 2016 concluded that the sum represented the repayment of a loan through FIFA from former Adidas chief Robert Louis-Dreyfus.
In 2017, the German tax office directed the DFB to settle over 20 million in overdue taxes for the year 2006.
The trial is anticipated to extend over several months.