To clear up the 2006 World Cup affair, the DFB commissioned a law firm for a lot of money. But in addition to the published report, she also delivered a second, secret report. Why this? And why does nobody at the DFB want to remember that?
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Johannes Aumüller and Thomas Kistner
In August 2016, a discreet handover took place at the Frankfurt headquarters of the German Football Association. The then DFB President Reinhard Grindel receives a visit from a lawyer from the law firm Freshfields. This had been commissioned months earlier to investigate mysterious million-dollar payments relating to the 2006 World Cup – now law firm representative Daniel Schnabl rushes over to hand over a classified matter. Allegedly in five copies, Grindel learned, so that he could pass on the remaining copies to other responsible DFB people.