Court proceedings: Summer fairy tale judgment: DFB appeals

The judicial aftermath of the 2006 World Cup summer fairy tale may continue. The German Football Association has filed a fine of 110,000 euros against the conviction due to tax evasion in front of the Federal Court of Justice. This was confirmed by the DFB after the Frankfurt Regional Court had made the verdict on June 25th.

Further procedure depends on written reasons for the judgment

“As announced, the DFB will make a final assessment of the further procedure after receipt and evaluation of the written reasons. The DFB had a week to insert the revision.

The DFB had been sentenced to a payment of 130,000 euros, 20,000 euros had been enacted to the association due to an “legal delay”. The DFB also had to bear the costs for the procedure, the district court had decided. The judgment was announced on the 34th trial day.

Judge: “Catastrophic picture” of the DFB during the processing

The public prosecutor had accused the association of evading tax championship in the affair for the World Cup 19 years ago and demanding a fine of EUR 270,000. “For the chamber, it is undoubtedly certain that the DFB has evaded taxes and that the participants accepted this approvingly,” said the presiding judge Eva-Marie Distler in the more than one-hour pronouncement. She had also emphasized that the DFB had given a “catastrophic picture” when dealing with the affair.

In its communication, the DFB pointed out that the state had no tax damage. The income from the 2006 World Cup was fully taxed. With a payment of 6.7 million euros, the tax deduction should have been made from the court’s point of view, the association said.

In essence, the process of the DFB payment of 6.7 million euros was to the World Association FIFA from April 2005. This sum was forwarded to an account by Robert Louis-Dreyfus and corresponded to the ten million Swiss francs that Franz Beckenbauer received from the French entrepreneur in 2002.