Hamburg 2024 Admits Scandal May Affect Vote

(ATR) The German bid tells Around the Rings that the scandal over an alleged slush fund to buy votes for the FIFA 2006 World Cup could impact the crunch referendum on the bid.

The bid from the German port city faces a battle to convince voters that its Olympic campaign is transparent and financially sound, according to IOC member Gian-Franco Kasper. German sport has been rocked by allegations that $7.4 million was used to bribe FIFA Executive Committee officials to secure World Cup hosting rights.

"The Hamburg citizens will think twice to say wholeheartedly ‘Yes to the Olympics’ simply because they might think it is corrupt anyway," the head of the international ski federation told German TV channel ARD.

"We are all thrown into the same pot… and the IOC. I hear that every day. People say ‘You're nothing more than money takers, you are pure mafia," he said, citing the Salt Lake City bribery scandal which tarnished the IOC’s reputation for many years.

UN advisor on sport Wilfried Lemke also fears the current talk about the World Cup scandal could hurt Hamburg’s application.

"The many negative headlines about FIFA, UEFA and the DFB damage the international reputation of sport," he said. "So it is not excluded that these headlines also affect the referendum in Hamburg, although the IOC is free of such scandals for many years."

Hamburg 2024 hit back but admitted the 2006 World Cup bribery allegations, denied by German FA (DFB) president Wolfgang Niersbach, is a hurdle on the way to passing the Nov. 29 referendum on the bid.

"The debate about FIFA and the role played by DFB as the German Football Association does not help in the referendum," a bid spokeswoman told ATR.

She said Hamburg 2024 "stands for utmost transparency, and this is very well received among Hamburg’s citizens".

"All the contracts we have concluded are there for anyone to read in the City of Hamburg transparency portal.Moreover, together with Transparency International with have devised an ethics code by which we will gladly be measured.

"Hamburg’s citizens have also realized that in recent years the IOC has likewise made a lot of efforts in this regard, especially in the form of the 2020 reform agenda," she added.

Bid officials have previously expressed to ATR their confidence that Hamburg will get the required 260,000 ‘Yes’ votes in the referendum, saying most residents are supportive of the Olympic quest.

Voting papers for the Nov. 29 referendum were sent out last Friday to the 1.3 million Hamburg citizens eligible to have their say on the bid. They have each received a white A4 envelope with an information booklet which includes arguments for and against bringing the 2024 Olympics to Hamburg. At least 20 percent of the electorate must vote ‘Yes’ otherwise the Olympic bid is dead.

Budapest, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome are the other 2024 bidders. The election takes place at the IOC Session in Lima, Peru in September 2017.

Reported by Mark Bissonand Heinz-Peter Kreuzer

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.