Ex-Germany star Netzer to join Hoeneß as witness in 2006 W.Cup trial

West Germany's 1974 World Cup winner Günter Netzer is being called as a witness in the trial of three former German Football Federation (DFB) officials accused of tax evasion linked to the 2006 World Cup.

The regional court in Frankfurt confirmed to dpa on Wednesday that the 79-year-old has been summoned to appear on May 23.

The trial concerns a payment of €6.7 million ($7.3 million) that the DFB transferred to FIFA in April 2005. Theo Zwanziger, Wolfgang Niersbach and Horst R. Schmidt are accused by prosecutors of wrongly including the sum in a tax return for 2006 as a business expense.

The money was for a World Cup 2006 gala in Germany which never took place. Media reports have alleged the payment was instead linked to vote-buying in the hosting decision for the tournament, although this has never been proven and the trio are only charged with tax fraud.

Bayern Munich's honorary president Uli Hoeneß will appear as a witness on April 15. The 72-year-old had hinted on Sport1 TV in 2020 and in the podcast 11Leben in 2021 that he knew more about the controversial payment than was publicly known.