Beckenbauer targeted in FIFA ethics probe

German football great Franz Beckenbauer and FIFA vice-president Ángel María Villar have been investigated by ethics prosecutors and are awaiting verdicts in their cases, says the ethics panel of world football’s governing body.  Both Beckenbauer and Villar – now serving as FIFA’s interim senior vice-president while President Sepp Blatter is suspended – have previously been identified by media as targets of the investigation into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.  Both men face sanctions for obstructing then-FIFA prosecutor Michael Garcia's investigation, ethics committee spokesman Marc Tenbuecken told The Associated Press. With Garcia's inquiry failing to find evidence of corruption involving Russia and Qatar, it falls to a criminal investigation of suspected money laundering led by Switzerland's attorney general to ascertain whether there was any financial wrongdoing in those World Cup bidding contests. The Russian and Qatari awards have been tainted ...