By CAITLIN MURRAY
A FIFA member who voted in the process that resulted in a 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been suspended for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into bribery.
German soccer great Franz Beckenbauer has been banned from participating in any soccer-related activity for 90 days, FIFA announced Friday. Beckenbauer refused to cooperate with FIFA ethics investigators despite “repeated requests for his assistance, including requests that he provide information during an in-person interview or in response to written questions provided in both English and German.”
Alan Sullivan, deputy chairman of the deciding arm of FIFA’s ethics Committee handed down the ban at the request of Michael J. Garcia, chairman of the investigatory chamber.
Beckenbauer was a voting member of FIFA’s executive committee in December 2010 when it chose Qatar along with Russia as 2018 World Cup host. He left the FIFA executive committee in 2011 but has remained on their football committee.
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