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IOC showing the way for future FIFA votes: Beckenbauer

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-07-06 10:00

DURBAN, South Africa - The International Olympic Committee's way of picking Games hosts has shown FIFA the way forward in cleaning up World Cup votes, Germany soccer great Franz Beckenbauer said on Tuesday.

Beckenbauer reckoned FIFA president Sepp Blatter's proposal to allow all members to select World Cup hosts and not just the 20-odd Executive Committee would provide much-needed transparency for the embattled governing body of soccer.

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"The IOC gave FIFA the idea," Beckenbauer, in Durban to support Munich's 2018 winter Olympics bid, told reporters. "Why not try it the other way?"

The IOC elects hosts with every single member entitled to vote and not just its own executive board.

"I think FIFA and football in general are in a bad condition. All these rumours hurt football. There is speculation but no evidence," added Beckenbauer, a former FIFA Executive Committee member who led Germany's successful 2006 World Cup bid.

FIFA and Blatter have been in the firing line for months, especially since awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar with allegations of bribery among its committee members. Qatar denies any wrongdoing.

A British parliamentary report this week accused FIFA of trying to brush the issue under the carpet and urged an investigation into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar. England lost out in the 2018 vote.

An in-house FIFA inquiry also found evidence of corruption linked to the recent election campaign for the FIFA presidency.

Blatter has proposed all of FIFA's 200-plus members should vote on World Cup bids in the future.

Beckenbauer said Munich, running against South Korea's Pyeongchang and France's Annecy, would witness a tight vote when the 2018 Games host is unveiled on Wednesday just like he did almost exactly 11 years ago with the 2006 World Cup bid.

Germany won by a single vote against South Africa.

"I hope the decision (for 2018) is not made yet," he said. "The Munich team is very strong. Now it comes to an end. It is going to be a close decision."