Germany sold arms to Saudi Arabia to secure its vote for 2006 World Cup (report)

Germany allegedly sent arms to Saudi Arabia in return for the Arab nation giving its support to Germany’s successful bid to host the 2006 World Cup. The claims made by the Die Zeit newspaper are the latest revelations to rock scandal-ridden FIFA.


The newspaper claims that the German government under then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder arranged for the lifting of an embargo of arms sales to Saudi Arabia a week before vote took place in Zurich in July 2000 to choose the 2006 World Cup host.

Once the restrictions had been lifted, Schroder’s administration is alleged to have made arms shipments to the Saudi kingdom, which included rocket-propelled grenades.

This was done to try and secure the support of Saudi Arabia to vote for Germany as the oil-rich nation had been planning to vote for Morocco, while South Africa were the hot favorites to win the overall vote, to bring the World Cup to Africa for the first time.

Germany also went to great lengths to woo other federations. Multinational firms Volkswagen and Bayer promised to increase investment in Thailand and South Korea. This ultimately led to Thailand’s FIFA executive committee member, Worawi Makudi, voting for Germany.

This intervention proved to be crucial for the German bid team, which eventually won the vote 12-11 in Zurich, with one abstention, which gave them the right to host the 2006 World Cup.

These latest allegations come on the back of a number of scandals that have rocked FIFA and led to President Sepp Blatter saying he will resign, just days after he was elected to serve a fifth term as the head of world football’s governing body.

On Wednesday, it emerged that American soccer official Chuck Blazer, who was a FIFA executive committee member until 2013, said he had accepted bribes in exchange for supporting France’s successful bid to host the 1998 World Cup and for backing South Africa in 2010.............http://rt.com/news/265453-germany-corruption-arms-football/ 6/6/5 
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• La Germania, pur di ottenere il sostegno dell'Arabia Saudita, avrebbe donato una nave carica di granate a razzo al paese musulmano. 

Ecco un altro tassello dell'inchiesta sulla Fifa. Lo scandalo Fifa sia allarga. Adesso anche la Germania potrebbe entrare nelle carte dell'inchiesta.

Secondo quanto racconta il settimanale tedesco Die Zeit, Berlino in cambio del voto dell'Arabia Saudita per i mondiali del 2006 avrebbe "donato" allo Stato musulmano una nave carica di armi.

Tutto sarebbe avvenuto nel 2000. Zeit riporta che l'Arabia Saudita, poco prima delle votazioni, aveva espresso le sue preferenze per il Marocco. Poi da Berlino sarebbe partita una trattativa guidata anche dal governo di Gherard Schroeder per ottenere i voti sauditi.

A sette giorni dal voto una nave carica di granate a razzo prodotte proprio in Germania sarebbe arrivata in Arabia Saudita. Passa una settimana e si va al voto per l'assegnazione dei mondiali del 2006: l'Arabia Saudita cambia idea e vota per la Germania. Al termine dello scrutinio Berlino ottiene il mondiale con 12 voti contro gli 11 del Sudafrica. Infine tra le indiscrezioni raccontate dal settimanale Zeit ci sarebbero anche alcune manovre della Volkswagen e della Bayer per incrementare gli investimenti in Thailandia e Corea del Sud, mentre la Daimler avrebbe investito 100 milioni nella Hyundai.
 http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/sport/fifa-zeiit-germania-ottenne-i-mondiali-carico-armi-allarabia-1137541.html 6/6/15