The temperature has risen in “Roman One”, as the judicial watchdog calls Hall I of the Frankfurt regional court. Wolfgang Niersbach, Horst R. Schmidt and Theo Zwanziger, all organizers of the 2006 World Cup, all defendants in the so-called “Summer Fairy Tale” trial, had not yet entered the prosecution when Eva-Marie Distler, the presiding judge of the second one, had Large criminal chamber, the news of the day has already been announced. Ulrich Hoeneß, honorary president of FC Bayern Munich eV and supervisory board of FC Bayern Munich AG, is invited as a witness on April 15th from Tegernsee to Frankfurt am Main so that he can explain what his level of knowledge is on the matter.
The witness Hoeneß in “Römisch Eins”, on the fourth day of the trial, which is primarily about a tax return from the German Football Association dated October 31, 2006, about the accusation of tax evasion in a particularly serious case, and at the background about that Self-image – and sense of honor – at least of a generation of the functional elite of German football administration: This is a clear signal from the judge.
In this process, no one communicates on just one level. Distler also broadcasts on different frequencies at the same time. To the defendants, of whom Niersbach and Schmidt in particular had assumed with some confidence in January that they would overcome the public’s mistrust, which now accompanies them in and out of “Römisch Eins” every day of the trial, through a so-called deal and could avoid a discontinuation of the proceedings against monetary compensation in accordance with Section 153a Paragraph II of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Distler’s chamber prevented this; Defendant Zwanziger was not offered the deal.
“I know pretty well what was going on back then”
So now Hoeneß as a witness because, as the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” recently reported in February, he said in 2020 as a representative of the functional elite of German football on the Sunday football talk show “Doppelpass” on the “Sport 1” channel, he I know “very definitely” that with the loan of ten million Swiss francs that Robert Louis-Dreyfuß provided to Franz Beckenbauer in 2002 and which the DFB redeemed through the International Football Association FIFA in 2005 in euros, namely 6.7 million, there was no one Votes were bought for the World Cup award.
Eva-Marie Distler, the presiding judge of the Second Large Criminal Chamber: Distler’s chamber brings the end : Image: EPA
In the podcast “11 Lives”, a multi-part audio biography about Hoeneß, he said in 2021 that he was “very close friends” with Louis-Dreyfuß until his death in 2009: “I know pretty well what was going on back then, and It wasn’t bribery!”
Anyone who gets involved in this way must expect to be questioned in court, Distler said on Thursday. Who wanted what from whom and why back then? Why did Louis-Dreyfuß loan Franz Beckenbauer ten million francs, which then ended up with Mohammed bin Hammam, the chairman of the finance commission, and why did the DFB stand responsible for it in April 2005, through FIFA and its then general secretary Urs Linsi? She wants to know exactly, that’s Distler’s message.
