Mystery surrounded FIFA's decision in Zurich yesterday to award the 2006 World Cup finals to Germany rather than, as widely expected, South Africa. South Africa's disappointment was given another dimension by reports on British television last night that the German bid team had offered money and gifts to members of the voting panel.
The FIFA president, Switzerland's Mr Sepp Blatter, had made no secret of his preference for South Africa. If the final vote had been tied on 1212, he would have cast his deciding vote in favour of the African country. Remarkably, however, the Oceania delegate, Mr Charles Dempsey of New Zealand, abstained on the final vote, appearing to overrule his mandate to vote for South Africa and allowing Germany to win 12-11.
Channel 4 News reported last night that Mr Dempsey revealed yesterday he had received a letter from the secretary of the German bid team, offering a gift in return for the guarantee of his vote. The report, quoting a FIFA source, said between five and 10 other delegates also claimed to have received similar letters. There was no immediate
reaction to these claims in Germany last night, where former soccer international Franz Beckenbauer was the toast of his countrymen.
Beckenbauer's energy in criss-crossing the world a number of times to promote the bid is indisputable but some FIFA members may also have been swayed by the presence in Zurich on Wednesday of the German model, Claudia Schiffer. She said little during Germany's final 30-minute presentation but she was the focus of more attention than Beckenbauer, the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, and former tennis star Boris Becker, who also took part.
England and Morocco had been the other two contenders for the honour, but England's hooliganism problem, which recently marred the Euro 2000 championships in Belgium and the Netherlands, and Morocco's lack of adequate infrastructure had ruled them out after the first two votes.
Sources in Zurich last night, however, told The Irish Times that several senior FIFA figures were quietly relieved that the tournament would be returning to Europe after the 2002 World Cup, hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan. Speaking for the disappointed South African delegation, former Manchester United goalkeeper Gary Bailey said: "This is a major blow to African football and to Africa socially, politically and economically."