Bayern Munich President Uli Hoeneß should watch the Champions League final between his team and Borussia Dortmund, which is to be played in London on May 25, from prison, argues Tageszeitung.

Hoeneß’s confession that he had a Swiss bank account, has taken on an increasingly political dimension in Germany in the runup to the general election in September.

“Will Hoeneß’s admission that he is a sinful soul be enough to satisfy the court?” wonders the alternative daily, which also raises another question: the issue of Hoeneß’s resignation. The Bayern Munich President has declared that he does not want to step down before the big match.

Tensions are running high ahead of of two March 22 World Cup 2014 elimination round matches, but for different reasons.

In Budapest, the Hungary-Romania match will be played "behind closed doors," headlines Népszabadság, as a punishment by world football governing body Fifa, following a series of anti-Semitic chants and banners from Hungarian fans directed at Israel during a "friendly" match between the two teams on August 15.

The police will be on high alert during the match between the two neighbouring countries, whose relations are currently strained by the issue of the Hungarian minority in Romania. The “ultras” and the far-right Jobbik party have organised a “national rock” concert for the occasion.

In Zagreb, it is the age-old conflict between Croatia and Serbia that has the authorities worried. Since a 1990 general brawl that broke out during a game between Dinamo of Zagreb and Red Star of Belgrade, football stadiums have become the theatre for clashes between supporters of the two countries. Tensions between Zagreb and Belgrade have revived recently following the acquittal of the Croatian general Ante Gotovina by the Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

While the 24 Sata tabloid has decked itself out in Croatian colours to proclaim “We’re proud!”, the Croatian capital “is in a state of siege”, writes Jutarnji List Some 1,500 local police officers have been mobilised for the match, helped by Serbian colleagues with experience in the fight against the extremists. Already sanctioned by international football bodies for violence by supporters, Croatia and Serbia have agreed to not organise travel for their supporters to avoid spillover. The Croatian police has warned that the match against the Serbs could be interrupted at any moment if nationalist songs break out. That would hurt mostly the Croatian national team, the leader (along with Belgium) in its group, reports the Croatian daily.

"Brussels investigates Spanish football," headlines El País, revealing that European Commission competition watchdogs are investigating three Valencia football teams – Valencia, Hércules and Elche – who listed the regional government, controlled by the centre-right Popular Party, as a guarantor against some €118m in bank loans. The clubs proved unable to pay their debts to Bankia, Banco de Valencia and CAM, which were later nationalised, meaning the government in Valencia – one of Spain’s most indebted regions – was forced to repay the loans.

If European Commission declares the financial aid irregular and in violation of competition law, the clubs will have to pay back the money, "which could leave them bankrupt," writes El País, adding that debts of all the country’s football clubs total €3.6bn –

For years there has been a wide variety of [public] financial supports that allowed the development of what Brussels has called "the Spanish football bubble”. [...] The respect for Spanish football is at its peak, but economically there are serious doubts about the future of many clubs [and] this apparent paradox between the clubs’ tremendous success and their disastrous economic situation has sparked suspicion in Europe."

A special investigation by Europol has revealed that 680 football games, including two Champions League matches and several qualifiers for the European Championship and World Cup, may have been rigged by criminals.

It is estimated that more than 400 referees, players and officials may have been involved in match-fixing masterminded by an Asian betting syndicate, which operated in 30 countries.

“Corruption with bookmakers fixtures in the background is a totally new sport crime stemming from the technological revolution that allows putting bets on sporting events happening on the other hemisphere,” concludes the daily.

“Germany is already the European champion … in terms of the economic efficiency of its first division”, announces Les Echos which reports on the annual European Football Money League ranking produced by the British arm of accounting firm Deloitte.

With four days left to run before next Friday’s kickoff of the Euro 2012 in Warsaw, Poland, the business daily enumerates the reasons for the financial health of the Bundesliga –

Since the mid-noughties, the German league, which has developed its economic effectiveness through the use of large stadiums, can boast of the best attendance records in Europe (with more than 42,000 spectators on average per stadium in 2010-2011). At the same time, it has also demonstrated a remarkable ability to control wage costs, which, on average, account for 53% of revenues, as opposed to 75% in Italy and France, 70% in England and 58% in Spain.

For Deloitte, the finances of the Bundesliga are all the more exceptional when considered in terms of a European context marked by major imbalances. A case in point is the stark contrast with the English Premier League “which, in 2010-2011, posted accumulated pre-tax losses of 380 million pounds sterling, and continues to require urgent attention”.

The most expensive footballer in history may now be used to guarantee the solvency of a Spanish bank. “Ronaldo in the bailout fund,” headlines Süddeutsche Zeitung. The daily reports that the Bankia group of savings banks, which financed Real Madrid’s acquisition of the Portuguese player, is now seeking to borrow funds from the European Central Bank. In response to the ECB’s demand for guarantees, Bankio are putting up… Ronaldo and the Brazilian Kaka, who also plays for the Madrid football club. In 2009, Real borrowed 76.5 million euros to pay transfer fees of 100 millions euros to Manchester United, and 60 million to Milan AC.

“Could we see a situation in which the ECB seizes one of the players?“ wonders the Munich daily. “In theory, it is possible. Bankia would first have to become insolvent. Thereafter, Real would have to default on its loans, which are secured by advertising and television revenues. It goes without saying that Real Madrid is in debt to the tune of several million euros. However, in Spain football clubs have a history of obtaining publicly funded bailouts – just like the country’s banks.”

“Poorer, dearer, later,” headlines Rzeczpospolita describing problems and delays to construction of a national stadium in Warsaw and a major motorway ahead of the Euro 2012 football tournament in Poland. In both cases companies offered bargain basement prices to win the contract and now find themselves unable to meet deadlines or quality standards. With the tournament approaching, they are hoping to renegotiate price terms, the Warsaw daily notes. In what was expected to be a bridgehead for further road investments in Europe, the Chinese Covec consortium asked for 1.3bn PLN (€330m) to build a 50-km stretch of the A2 motorway between Warsaw and Łódź, or 420m PLN (€106m) below other bids. Struggling to pay the Polish subcontractors, Covec was forced to stop construction works and now may lose the contract and have to pay the Polish investor 740 m PLN (€186m) in damages. “These problems are the consequence of awarding contracts based on the lowest price”, says transportation expert Adrian Furgalski. “In most EU countries ‘the most cost-effective’ bids are preferred, which does not mean the least expensive”, Rzeczpospolita concludes.

The question increasingly being asked has made it onto the front page of Libération: “Is French football racist?” This comes a week after the Mediapart news web site published revelations that the national coach, Laurent Blanc, and the national football federation directorate appeared to be seeking to “limit the number of French players of African and North African origin” by drawing up discriminatory quotas for bi-national players at training centres. The case, which shakes up the image of the 1998 world champion team of black-blanc-beur [beur = Arab], has become a political and social issue. “The controversy is justified,” writes Libération, publishing an appeal launched by neighborhood coaches denouncing “the denigration of blacks and Arabs by the French Football Federation.” “If the controversy has blown up like this, it’s because – beyond bringing in the symbol that is the national team of the most popular sport there is – it hits the nail on the head, right there where France is hurting: the failure of its integration model and the social and urban segregation in which millions of citizens of immigrant origin have been kept for three generations now.”

“Videoconferencing with hooligans 2012”, leads Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, referring to a new bill drawn up by the Ministry of Justice ahead of the Euro 2012 football tournament in Poland and Ukraine. The proposed law provides for fast-track “video trials” of football hooligans caught “red-handed”. For offences like fighting, setting off firecrackers or carrying dangerous objects, they will be detained at the venue to await trial, which will place in a special room connected with the court via high-speed internet, a solution aimed at speeding up the procedure, which could thus be completed within 48 hours. Some lawyers, however, believe such video trials may violate the defendant’s right to legal representation. “A football stadium is a place for sports, the meting out of justice should be reserved to courts”, an unnamed attorney told the Warsaw daily.

“Russia-Qatar. Only goal: money!” headlines Le Soir, somewhat bitter after Russia and Qatar won the bidding to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. So much for the Belgian-Dutch, English, and Spanish-Portuguese bids. This decision “falls right in with the trend towards moneymania and excess”, rages the Brussels daily. “The football racket was born about 20 years ago, driven by personalities like Berlusconi and Bernard Tapie [ex-president of Olympique de Marseille], and has flourished ever since – especially in England thanks to Russian magnates and Persian Gulf princes (how symbolic!).”

Under the headline “Still no luck!” De Volkskrant's front page features a picture of Wesley Sneijder prostrate in despair in the wake of the Netherlands’ World Cup final defeat against Spain. This will add to already painful memories of defeat in 1974 and 1978, notes the Amsterdam daily, “and will contribute to the image presented by the Dutch team in a South African campaign” marked by “a series of weird resurrections, bloody conflict, unrelenting resistance, relapses and occasionally disgusting behaviour.”

Libération headlines with "le footoir" [a pun in French on the words 'football' and 'bloody mess']. The French press considers the national football team to be "ridiculously depressing" after its World Cup defeat on the 17 June against Mexico. One player has insulted the team trainer, the team refuse to train together, an official of the French Football Federation has resigned and the Ministry for Sport is preparing to intervene. For some, the situation even reflects the current unrest in French society in this crisis.

Nicolas Sarkozy has said he feels “sorry”, Le Figaro has called it an “affair of state”, while Libération has gleefully illustrated its entire Friday edition with photos of hands.  The furore over Wednesday’s night World Cup qualifying match in which France eliminated Ireland with a flagrant piece of handball skullduggery from Thierry Henry looks sets to run. The Irish Independent led this morning with news that the FAI, Ireland’s football association, had called on FIFA to order a replay, backed up by a Taoiseach Brian Cowen and ministers desperate to restore some of their deeply unpopular government moral authority. Later today, the stuffed shirts of FIFA, however, overturned the FAI request, backing up the beleaguered Swedish referee who, unlike the rest of the planet, failed to see the Henry ruse. Meanwhile, with a fine piece of hyperbole, the Irish Independent’s leader blames Ireland’s economic woes on Barcelona supremo Henry. “FIFA's condoning of the French captain's cheating has cost this country dearly, perhaps billions in economic terms,” it froths.

France have ignominiously wangled their way into the 2010 World Cup. L’Equipe headlines with “the hand of God”, but the photo of Thierry Henry’s handball, which eliminated Ireland, does not exactly smack of Gallic godliness on the pitch. Naturally, the “hand of God” argument once used by Argentina’s Maradona to justify a handball goal is nothing short of bad faith in the eyes of football fans. “Two hours of playing time led the Blues to the humbling conclusion that they are not a great team. Are they a team at all, for that matter?" the sports daily pretends to wonder the morning after the contentious decider in Paris. The Irish Independent, for its part, calls it “armed robbery”.