German FA to pay hefty back tax

The German Football Association must pay 19.2 million euros in back taxes related to a controversial payment for the 2006 World Cup but it will challenge the Frankfurt tax office's decision, it said yesterday.

The tax office said a payment of 6.7 million euros from the DFB to FIFA in 2005 had not been declared properly and the association now owed 19.2 million.

That payment has triggered several investigations in the past two years over allegations it had been used as a slush fund to buy votes in favour of Germany's bid to host the 2006 tournament.

Officially the payment was for an opening ceremony. But such a ceremony never took place and a DFB-commissioned investigation last year said the sum was the return of a loan via FIFA from former Adidas chief Robert Louis-Dreyfus.

It has never been clarified what the initial loan had been for and why it had to be paid back to the late Dreyfus via FIFA.