Fifa crisis: German police raid DFB football association over alleged payments for 2006 World Cup

German police have raided the offices of country's the national football federation DFB over allegations of tax evasion and payments made to Fifa with regards to the awarding of the 2006 World Cup. Frankfurt prosecutor Nadja Niesen said authorities raided the GDB headquarters and the private homes of several officials as part of the investigation.

The probe is looking to allegations of a transfer of €6.7m (£4.7m) made by DFB to Fifa in connection with the World Cup, which was held in Germany in 2006. According to German newspaper Bild, the homes of DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach and former president Theo Zwanziger have been raided. German news agency dpa added around 50 officers and tax inspectors took part in the raid.

According to a report by Der Spiegal in October, a former CEO of Adidas and president of Marseilles, Robert Louis-Dreyfus, set up a "slush fund" in which the was placed to buy votes.

The DFB has already denied the allegations. Franz Beckenbauer, president of the 2006 World Cup organising committee, also said no votes were bought during the campaign to bring the competition to Germany but admitted mistakes may have been made.

He said: "In order to receive a financial subsidy from Fifa, it was agreed to accept a recommendation from Fifa's finance committee, which from today's perspective, should have been rejected. As the president of the organising committee, I take responsibility for this error."

In May, 14 people – including seven senior Fifa executives – were arrested by US authorities as part of a corruption and bribery inquiry that was followed by a separate Swiss criminal investigation into the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar respectively.