Germany accused of bribing FIFA officials to host 2006 World Cup

The bidding committee of Germany’s 2006 World Cup bought the votes of Asian Fifa executive committee members, according to a German newspaper.

The allegations - made in Der Spiegel - name Robert Louis-Dreyfus, a French businessman who ran Adidas between 1994 and 2001, as the provider of 10.3m Swiss francs (around £5m at that time) used to secure votes from a selection of Fifa's 24-member committee in July 2000.

The report claims cash was used to pay off four Asian voters before eventually being paid back to Louis-Dreyfus through Fifa's own bank account in Switzerland following the 12:11 final round election victory.

The German Football Federation (DFB) have denied the accusations of bribery and claim they are considering legal action against the magazine.

'German Football Association react with utmost determination to completely deny the baseless allegations from the news magazine 'Der Spiegel', which says there had been a 'black cash' at DFB in connection with the bid for the 2006 FIFA World Cup,' a statement read.

'Equally significantly, the association denies the factless conclusions of the authors that it had bought votes to be awarded the World Cup. The DFB states with all determination explicitly again that neither the DFB president nor other members of the organising committee be involved in such operations or to have known about it. The DFB reserves legal action against the presentation of the magazine 'Der Spiegel'.

Fifa say they will investigate the story.