Oceania president to resign
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — The soccer official who handed Germany the 2006 World Cup by abstaining from the vote on the site said Sunday he will step down in September.
Charlie Dempsey, the Oceania Football Confederation president, defied his confederation’s mandate to support South Africa in the FIFA ballot if England had been knocked out. By abstaining Thursday in the third round of voting, he allowed Germany to win the ballot 12-11.
If Dempsey, 78, voted for South Africa to make it 12-all, FIFA president Sepp Blatter would have cast the deciding vote. Blatter had campaigned heavily for the African nation.
The 1998 World Cup was held in France, and the 2002 Cup will be staged in South Korea and Japan.
West Germany was host of the World Cup in 1994. It has never been staged in Africa.
