Overview
- Investigators, which carried out coordinated searches Wednesday, raided the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt and municipal sports offices in the ten Euro 2024 host cities.
- Authorities named two suspects, a 46-year-old former Euro 2024 GmbH employee who managed host-city relations and a 66-year-old former Gelsenkirchen official, and say the inquiry is expanding as evidence is reviewed.
- Officials allege specific benefits were exchanged, including a reported €2,400-value invitation to the tournament semi-final, and they are probing whether thousands of tickets, hotel stays or travel invites were steered to preferred guests.
- The probe is led by the Landeskriminalamt with support from the Staatsanwaltschaft Bochum and more than 150 investigators, and several host cities have confirmed they are cooperating with searches.
- The investigation remains active with no formal charges filed yet, and investigators will determine whether municipal pre-purchase rights for ticket contingents were misused and what administrative or criminal consequences follow.