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dpa
Berlin
German football great Franz Beckenbauer has again rejected allegations of bribes paid in connection with the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Breaking a long silence on the affair, Beckenbauer wrote in Germany's Bild newspaper:"The award of the World Cup to Germany was not bought to the best of my knowledge. We did not want to bribe anyone and we did not bribe anyone."
Beckenbauer, 71, then head of the German World Cup organising committee, is a central figure in investigations into unclear payments in connection with the World Cup.
Saying it would be his last column for Bild, Beckenbauer said he could not comment in detail about the affair"before the German and Swiss authorities, with whom I am cooperating of course, have finished their investigations."
Swiss prosecutors said at the beginning of September they had opened criminal proceedings on November 6 last year against Beckenbauer and former senior German football federation (DFB) officials Wolfgang Niersbach, Theo Zwanziger and Horst R Schmidt.
The proceedings relate to allegations of fraud, criminal mismanagement, money laundering and misappropriation.
Investigations have focused on a payment to football world governing body FIFA of 6.7 million euros (around 7 million dollars) for a World Cup gala event which never took place.
German prosecuting authorities in November 2015 separately opened an investigation on"suspicion of tax evasion in a particularly severe case" into senior DFB officials in connection with the payment.
However, Beckenbauer was not a subject of the investigation, a prosecution spokeswoman said at the time.
Beckenbauer underwent heart bypass surgery at the beginning of September.
"Today, thanks to the skill of the doctors, I am doing well, I would even say really, really good," he said.
"I've got my rehab behind me, I've changed my life a little and am doing a lot of sport again."
He said he was ending his work for Bild after 34 years because he wanted to spend more time with his family. He lives in Salzburg with his third wife, Heidi and his two children.
DFB proposes its chief Grindel for FIFA council
The German Football Federation (DFB) on Wednesday officially proposed its president Reinhard Grindel for a seat on the council of the ruling body FIFA.
The DFB said it has informed all 54 UEFA members of the move in a letter.
Grindel, 55, aims to take the place of former DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach who has been banned from football activities for a year in connection with the German 2006 World Cup affair and has resigned from the FIFA council.
The UEFA congress in Helsinki in April 2017 elects its candidate to succeed Niersbach in the FIFA council, on a two-year term to complete Niersbach's original mandate until 2019.
Grindel also aims to take over from Niersbach, whose term expires, in the UEFA executive committee at the congress.
