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Football Notes: Bayern Munich President Karl Hopfner Backs Beckenbauer

Bayern Munich has thrown its weight behind "troubled" club icon Franz Beckenbauer, who is "at the heart" of a 2006 World Cup financial scandal, by saying on Friday that the German champions "owed him a lot." Beckenbauer, a former World Cup-winning player and coach and Bayern's honorary president, has "denied repeated allegations of a slush fund" used by Germany's bid committee to land the 2006 World Cup. Bayern President Karl Hopfner said, "Independent of the investigation we owe Franz Beckenbauer as a player, coach and president a hell of a lot" (REUTERS, 11/27). ... FIFA presidential candidate Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa received an endorsement Friday from his exec committee colleagues at the Asian Football Confederation. Three of the five FIFA candidates claim support from Asian voters, but the AFC said its 24-member exec committee "unanimously backed" Sheikh Salman. Asia has 46 of the 209 voting federations in the FIFA election to succeed Sepp Blatter on Feb. 26 (AP, 11/27). ... One of Brazil's largest builders, Andrade Gutierrez, will "confess to paying bribes" for 2014 FIFA World Cup contracts and business with state-run companies Petrobras and Eletrobras, a newspaper report said on Friday. Andrade Gutierrez agreed with Brazil's prosecutor-general and other investigators to pay a fine of $270M in "leniency and plea deals" covering the company and its execs, the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper said (REUTERS, 11/27). ... Ukraine has been ordered to play its next home game in UEFA competition behind closed doors following racist behavior, "the use of laser pointers, illicit banners and chants at the Euro 2016 qualifier" against Spain on Oct. 12. The Football Federation of Ukraine was also fined $102,752 in total for the use of laser devices, illicit banners, chants and blocking of stairways. The decision came two days after the UEFA Control, Ethics & Disciplinary Body ordered Ukrainian champion Dynamo Kiev to play its next two home European games without fans due to racist behavior and crowd disturbances (REUTERS, 11/27).

SIDE JOB: Uganda Revenue Authority FC -- one of the country's biggest clubs -- has encouraged its players to earn extra cash, "by helping them to get into the lucrative motorcycle taxi business." URA is helping the club's players to buy motorbikes, commonly known as boda bodas, "which are widely used by businesses in Uganda to transport people and luggage." With the cost of living "continuing to rise" in the Ugandan capital Kampala, club Chair Ali Ssekatawa said that it no longer wants its players to "strictly rely on the income they get from playing football." Club management asked the players to hire riders "and not to ride the motorbikes themselves, due to the risk involved" (BBC, 11/29).

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