German football will be glad to see the end to a year which broke the 2006 World Cup scandal and saw the world champions experience the Paris terror attacks first-hand.
After the high of winning the 2014 World Cup came the low in October when Der Spiegel broke the cash-for-votes scandal surrounding the awarding of the 2006 World Cup hosted by Germany.
The magazine claimed an unexplained 6.7 million euro ($7.2 million) payment to FIFA was used to purchase the votes of four executive committee members in 2000 — days before Germany narrowly won the right to host the 2006 finals.
The German FA (DFB) strenuously denied the claims, but Wolfgang Niersbach soon resigned as president while police made a series of raids and FIFA launched an investigation.
Results of an independent audit of the 2006 bid, ordered by the DFB, are expected in January to hopefully shed light on what happened 15 years ago.
– ‘Damage is done’ –
As politician Dagmar Freitag, who heads the Bundestag’s sports committee, put it: “The damage is done, but the question for me is: how big will this get?”
On the pitch, Germany finished top of their group to book their place at Euro 2016 in France, but with two defeats this was their worst campaign since finishing second to the Czech Republic in their Euro 2008 qualifying group.
Ireland poached a 1-0 win over Germany in October before Loew’s side held their nerve to beat Scotland 3-2 away, then were made to work for a 2-1 win at home to minnows Georgia.
As centre-back Jerome Boateng said: “If we play like that again there will be no need to travel to France.”
But while head coach Joachim Loew has areas to improve on — namely woeful finishing and a lack of form in key individuals — the world champions head to France as favourites.
“We have proven, on numerous occasions, that we are able to get the most out of the time before a tournament, which is also what we’ll do this time,” said Loew with Germany to face Ukraine, Poland and Northern Ireland in Group C.
Germany finished their international campaign on a low in November.
Their friendly against the Netherlands in Hannover was cancelled due to a bomb threat, just four days after Loew’s squad spent the night in the Stade de France in the wake of the Paris terror attacks after a meaningless 2-0 defeat against the French.
An emotional Loew said the players were afraid for their lives.
– ‘Humans not machines’ –
Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan said the squad was glad the Netherlands friendly was eventually cancelled.
“We talked about it together and agreed it’d be difficult if the game had taken place,” he said.
“We wanted to make a statement (against terrorism), but at the end of the day we are humans, not machines.”
Domestically, Bayern Munich again dominated the German league and are on course to become the first team to win the title four times in a row.
Head coach Pep Guardiola is in the third and final year of his current contract and after exiting the Champions League semi-finals for a second year running last May, the European crown remains the Bavarian giants’ goal in 2016.
Borussia Dortmund bounced back from starting 2015 bottom of the table in February to finish the year second as Jurgen Klopp, who left in June to eventually take over at Liverpool, was replaced by Thomas Tuchel.
Dortmund’s current tally of 38 points from 12 wins in their 16 league games would be enough to put them top of the English, Spanish and Italian leagues.
The goals are certainly flowing as Dortmund’s Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored 18 times in 16 games and is on course to beat Gerd Mueller’s record 40 goals in a single Bundesliga campaign set in 1971/72.
Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski sent records tumbling in September by scoring five goals in nine jaw-dropping minutes in a 5-1 rout of Wolfsburg.