The trial of disgraced German football coach Christoph Daum on drugs charges opened today.
Daum was fired by the Bayer Leverkusen football club and the German Football Federation (DFB) last October after he failed a drug test he had arranged to clear his name.
The affair ended his hopes of taking charge of the German national side.
The 47-year-old, who coaches struggling Turkish first division giants Besiktas, could lose his German coaching licence if the court finds him guilty of buying cocaine on 63 occasions and inciting others to buy drugs for him.
He faces up to five years in prison.
Daum admitted in January this year after months of denials that he had used cocaine, albeit only "occasionally and privately".
The prosecution alleges Daum bought between three and five grammes of cocaine 63 times in 1999 and 2000 and asked others to buy a total of 100 grammes of cocaine for him.
The trial is scheduled to run to February 26th, 2002.
AFP