ZURICH -- Soccer great Franz Beckenbauer is a criminal suspect in a World Cup fraud case.Beckenbauers home in Austria was raided for evidence on Thursday on behalf of Swiss federal prosecutors investigating corruption linked to FIFA. Switzerlands attorney generals office said they had opened criminal proceedings against Beckenbauer and three other German members of the 2006 World Cup organizing committee.The four are suspected of fraud, money laundering, criminal mismanagement and misappropriation relating to a payment of 6.7 million euros ($7.3 million) to FIFA in 2005.Searches of premises or searches on a cooperative basis for the collection of evidence were carried out in eight separate locations (in Austria and Germany) at the same time today, the Swiss federal prosecution office said in a statement. In addition, various suspects were questioned by or on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland.Beckenbauers lawyers said he is cooperating with all authorities involved.Franz Beckenbauer has supported the Swiss federal prosecutors investigations since he has known about them, and cooperated constructively in todays search, lawyers Werner Leitner and Michael Nesselhauf said in a statement reported by German news agency dpa.Three of the suspects are past or current members of FIFA ruling committee: Beckenbauer, Theo Zwanziger and Wolfgang Niersbach.Niersbach, whose term expires in 2019, was banned for one year by the FIFA ethics committee in July for not reporting suspected wrongdoing.The fourth criminal suspect is Horst Schmidt, vice president of the 2006 organizing committee.Beckenbauer, Zwanziger and Schmidt have also been under investigation for suspected bribery by the FIFA ethics committee for several months.The Swiss criminal case, formally opened last November but confirmed only on Thursday, has caused turmoil at the soccer federation of world champion Germany and tarnished the reputation of a World Cup that was a popular success. In Germany, the 2006 tournament has become known as its Summer Fairytale.It also threatens to wreck the reputation of the 70-year-old Beckenbauer, arguably the nations greatest ever player. The former Bayern Munich and New York Cosmos defender captained and coached West Germany to World Cup titles, then organized the tournament.It is suspected that the suspects willfully misled their fellow members of the executive board of the organizing committee for the 2006 World Cup, the Swiss prosecution office said. This was presumably done by the use of false pretenses or concealment of the truth, thus inducing the other committee members to act in a manner that caused (the German soccer federation) a financial loss.Beckenbauer headed his countrys bid to win the hosting rights in 2000 in a vote of the FIFA executive committee. Germany won 12-11 in a final-round vote against a South Africa bid backed by Nelson Mandela. Beckenbauer then chaired the organizing committee.In February, the German soccer federation published a 361-page inquiry report that tried to explain a complex trail about payments of 6.7 million euros ($7.3 million) and 10 million Swiss francs ($10 million) being investigated by German and Swiss authorities.The money linked Beckenbauer, then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter, one-time FIFA power broker Mohamed bin Hammam and Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the late former Adidas executive and former part owner of Swiss marketing agency Infront.That inquiry, by law firm Freshfields, suggested a deeper involvement than previously suspected of Beckenbauer, who later joined the FIFA executive committee from 2007-11.It said the payment by the German federation to FIFA on April 27, 2005, was falsely declared by the World Cup organizing committee for an opening gala, but was intended for Louis-Dreyfus. That same day, FIFA transferred the money to a Swiss account set up by Louis-Dreyfus.The inquiry report said Blatter was aware of the payment, though the former FIFA president has denied the claim.Swiss jurisdiction in the proceedings is based on the fact that certain of the alleged criminal acts were carried out in Switzerland, which is also the suspected place of unlawful enrichment, the federal prosecution office said.In a separate investigation, German prosecutors and tax officials suspect tax evasion by the national soccer federation. That case led Niersbach and Helmut Sandrock to resign in recent months as the federations president and general secretary, respectively.The Swiss case announced Thursday did not mention Stefan Hans, chief financial officer for the 2006 organizing committee, who is also suspected in the FIFA ethics case.Swiss federal prosecutors are investigating the 2006 World Cup allegations as part of a wider probe of FIFAs business. It has already put Blatter under criminal investigation for two separate acts of suspected financial mismanagement.Swiss prosecutors are also working with the U.S. Department of Justice in its extensive investigation of corruption in world soccer.The American case has indicted more than 40 individuals and marketing agencies, including several former FIFA vice presidents, and has targeted $10 million in supposed bribes paid by South Africas successful bid to host the 2010 World Cup.Despite his legal issues, Niersbach is still a member of the executive committees of FIFA and European soccer body UEFA, after being elected last year by European member federations.UEFA said Thursday that Niersbach is not being replaced while he is not charged with any criminal offense and is appealing his FIFA ethics ban. Rogie Vachon Jersey . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. 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Brazil could struggle to retain its position because its next competitive match is at the World Cup next June. Most high-ranked teams will play at least four more qualifying matches which score higher than friendlies in FIFAs calculations. World and European champion Spain tops the rankings despite its 3-0 beating from Brazil in the final last Sunday. Italy, third-placed at the Confederations Cup, climbs to No. 6. Uruguay rises seven to No. 12 after finishing fourth in the eight-team tournament. Germany follows Spain, and Colombia rises four to its highest-ever position of No. 3. Argentina, which drew 0-0 with Colombia in a World Cup qualifying match, and the Netherlands are fourth and fifth. Portugal and Croatia fall to seventh and eighth, resppectively.dddddddddddd Tenth-ranked Belgium reaches its highest-ever position. England drops six to No. 15, losing its top-10 status for the first time since October 2008. Ivory Coast leads African teams at No. 13, and Confederations Cup entry Nigeria falls four to No. 35. Mexico is CONCACAFs best at No. 20, a fall of three places after failing to advance from its Confederations Cup group. Canada, which didnt play in June, dropped five spots to No. 88. The United States climbs six places to No. 22 as reward for a perfect record of four wins in June, including three World Cup qualifiers and a 4-3 victory against Germany in a friendly. Japan, which also played at the Confederations Cup, leads Asia at No. 37. Irans qualification for the World Cup helped it rise 15 to No. 52. Qatar, which lost a key qualifier to Iran and has been eliminated, drops eight to No. 112. Tahiti was punished for its three heavy losses at the Confederations Cup by dropping 16 to No. 154. New Zealand heads Oceania at No. 55, up two. ' ' '
