World Cup Surplus Surprises FIFA

"We didn't expect a result of this magnitude. This was only possible because everything went perfectly. We allowed for the worst possible case in our calculations and the result was a great success," said Theo Zwangizer, president of the German Soccer Association and head of the World Cup organizing committee, in Frankfurt on Thursday.

Yet after the glowing report, a German politician demanded the international soccer association, FIFA, help pay for the costs of German soldiers who provided sanitation and security services at the games at their own cost.

Of the 135 million euro surplus, only 40.8 million euros will go to FIFA, the international soccer association, which oversaw the cup. DFB, the German Soccer Association, and DFL, the German Soccer League, will split 56.5 million euros evenly.

The German tax agency will collect 43.7 million euros in corporate tax. The numbers prove that soccer in Germany is not subsidized by the state, but just the opposite, said Zwanziger.

The four parties are dividing up a pie that is 6 million euros larger than the surplus because tax refunds payable this year were added to the total.

Extra money for community soccer

"We've proved that the World Cup wasn't an end in itself and we are also able to offer our partners a positive final balance sheet," Zwanziger told reporters Thursday in Frankfurt.

It's not only the World Cup partners who will be cheering about the high figures. The German Soccer Association has promised that a good portion of the extra funds will go toward minority integration efforts in soccer and women's and girls' teams. Another 20 million is reserved for state soccer associations.

Special postage stamps and coin campaigns promoting the World Cup exceeded sales expectations as well, according to the German Soccer Association. But the live experience, rather than collectors' items, is what really brought in the bucks.

"We generated 20 million euros more than expected with ticket sales alone. We'd counted on the stadiums being filled to 95 percent capacity, but sales were at nearly 100 percent," said Zwanziger.

'The Bundeswehr shouldn't subvention FIFA'

Meanwhile, a representative from the opposition FDP party have called for FIFA to help pay for the German Bundeswehr soldiers that were deployed to keep help keep the games running smoothly.

"It is not acceptable that the Bundeswehr, with its tight budget, should subvention FIFA," the acting chairwoman of the FDP parliamentary party, Birgit Homburger, told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

The Bundeswehr provided sanitation services, as well as AWAC security flights. The costs without the flights were some 5 million euros, she said. "The Bundeswehr should have 100 percent of its bill paid by FIFA," she said.