By John Bagratuni and Derek Wilson, dpa

Berlin (dpa) – FIFA’s ethics committee on Monday banned its council member and former German football federation (DFB) president Wolfgang Niersbach for one year from football-related activities in connection with the awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany.

FIFA said its «adjudicatory chamber found Niersbach failed to report findings about possible misconduct concerning the awarding of the

2006 World Cup, including potential breaches of the FIFA Code of Ethics (FCE).

«The Ethics Committee found that the conduct of Mr Niersbach as former President of the DFB and Vice-President of the 2006 FIFA World Cup LOC (Local Organizing Committee) and current member of the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee constituted a violation of article 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting) and article 19 (Conflicts of interest) of the FCE.»

Niersbach said in an email to dpa «the decision hits me hard» as he was «convinced» after a hearing last week that the ethics committee wouldn’t impose a ban. He hoped the his argument that any wrongdoing was merely a belated reporting of suspicious payments from the 2006 World Cup organizing committee to FIFA would be accepted.

«The penalty imposed now I consider unreasonable and excessive,» he said. «I will take legal advice on whether to appeal against the decision.»

Niersbach resigned as DFB president on November 9, saying he took responsibility for the World Cup affair surrounding a payment made by Germany’s 2006 World Cup organizing committee, under its president Franz Beckenbauer, of 6.7 million euros (7.4 million dollars) to FIFA in 2005.

But Niersbach retained his elected positions at the FIFA and UEFA executive committee, and could theoretically return to them after his ban is completed.

The adjudicatory chamber did not follow the investigative division of the ethics committee which wanted Niersbach banned for two years. It said the current case did not take into account «possible acts of bribery and/or corruption» around the award of the 2006 World Cup.

In March the ethics committee opened an investigation on the awrading of the 2006 tournament, probing six officials including Beckenbauer, Niersbach and another former DFB president Theo Zwanziger.

The DFB hired outside law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to investigate the scandal and though the company said it found no evidence of vote buying around the World Cup award, new unclear payments – including from an account held by Beckenbauer – had emerged.