German FA chief quits over World Cup scandal

Berlin German football federation chief Wolfgang Niersbach said Monday he was stepping down taking political responsibility for graft claims related to the 2006 World Cup but admitting no personal guiltGerman football has been caught in the storm unleashed by a report in magazine Spiegel last month which alleged that a 67millioneuro 72million payment made by football association DFB to FIFA was used to buy votes in order to secure the hosting of the World Cup known affectionately in Germany as the Summer FairytaleThe scandal took a dramatic twist last week with police carrying out raids at DFB headquarters and prosecutors revealing that three men including the DFB chief were being investigated for serious tax fraud surrounding the FIFA payment Prosecutors said they had only refrained from pursuing accusations of corruption because the statute of limitations had expiredBut Niersbach who announced his resignation following a crisis meeting at the DFB said he was guiltfree I was there from the first day of the bid for the 2006 FIFA World Cup all the way to the final film of the summer fairytale and have worked throughout all the years in a clean reliable and correct manner he saidIn my assigned areas of marketing media accreditations and event organisation I can say with a clear conscience that I am personally beyond reproach he added Its all the more depressing and painful for me to be confronted nine years later with transactions that I was not involved in and which leave many questions open for me said Niersbach Vicepresidents Reinhard Rauball and Rainer Koch are taking over as interim cochiefs of the German football federation DFBMore than a jobNiersbach had in the early days of the scandal called a press conference in a bid to explain the 67 million euro payment He said then that he had learnt in June of the issue but that the sum was made in order to receive a larger subsidy from FIFA worth 170 million euros German football legend Franz Beckenbauer who led the committee for the World Cup bid appeared to back up Niersbachs claim saying that in order to obtain a FIFA grant we accepted a proposition from FIFAs finance commission that the implicated parties should in retrospect have refusedBut FIFA quickly refuted the claims and has since revealed it is investigating Beckenbauer although it did not say over what On Monday Niersbach insisted he had no knowledge of the background of the transactions in question He said his 27 years at the DFB first as media chief before moving up the chain to become general secretary in 2007 and then president in 2012 were always more than a job for me The work in the different functions was close to my heartI love football and this federation In order to protect the DFB and this office I am stepping down as DFB president with a heavy heart said the 64yearold former journalist German team coach Joachim Loew expressed sadness at Niersbachs resignationOf course I am very affected surprised and very sad over it he said Irregardless of the legal facts I think that Wolfgang was a fantastic man and a fantastic president for us said Loew He has always loved football and done everything for football He was an excellent point of contact for us and thats why Im very very sorry that he has resigned