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Player Spied on Mates

FRANKFURT, Germany -- A newspaper has shaken the ranks of defending World Cup champion Germany with a report that forward Ulf Kirsten was paid for spying on teammates in his former Communist homeland. A former East German international, Kirsten admitted in 1992 that he had worked as an informer for his homeland's secret service, known as Stasi. But he gave his "word of honor" that he had not caused harm and that he had not written reports for Stasi. However, the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine said Thursday that Kirsten had written reports for the Stasi and that he had been paid once for his work.

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