Joke bribes, one abstention and the vote that gave Germany 2006
On the night before FIFA picked the 2006 host, a German satirical magazine mailed delegates mock bribes: cuckoo clocks and Black Forest ham in exchange for backing Germany. The next day an Oceania delegate, citing intolerable pressure, abstained. Had he voted as instructed, the result would have been a tie.
Brazil withdrew shortly before the July 2000 ballot in Zurich, leaving Germany to face England, Morocco and South Africa. It took three rounds, each knocking out the weakest bid, and on 7 July Germany edged South Africa in the last one. The delegate who abstained, Charlie Dempsey, had first supported England and was then told to switch to South Africa. His vote would have produced a 12-12 deadlock, leaving Sepp Blatter, who favoured South Africa, to decide.
Suspicion lingered. In the months before the decision German politicians and big companies showed sudden interest in the four Asian countries whose delegates held the swing votes. A week before polling, Gerhard Schroder's government lifted an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, and DaimlerChrysler put several hundred million euros into Hyundai, where a founder's son sat on the FIFA executive committee. In 2015 Der Spiegel alleged a slush fund financed by former Adidas chief Robert Louis-Dreyfus had swayed those votes, a charge the German federation's president flatly denied.
The tournament itself ran from 9 June to 9 July 2006, the first held in a reunified Germany, with Leipzig in the former East among twelve host stadiums. FIFA's ban on non-partner sponsors meant Munich's Allianz Arena was temporarily renamed and even its lettering was hidden. For the first time since 1934 the holders had to qualify, so Brazil joined 197 other teams in the qualifying process, only to fall to France in the quarter-finals.
Italy won its fourth title, beating France 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, while Germany beat Portugal for third. The final drew an estimated 715.1 million viewers. Serbia and Montenegro played unaffected even though the union had dissolved on 3 June, days before kick-off.
Source: 2006 FIFA World Cup
