2006 World Cup officials 'were aware' of Fifa payment, says former German federation chief Theo Zwanziger

In a political feud that could tarnish the reputation of Franz Beckenbauer, the former president of the German soccer federation has accused 2006 World Cup officials of knowing about a questionable payment to Fifa as early as 2002.

Theo Zwanziger said on Tuesday that his successor, current German federation president Wolfgang Niersbach, was aware of a €6.7 million (HK$57 million) payment to Fifa years earlier than previously thought.

Zwanziger has called the payment a slush fund used to buy votes.

"It was not a solo thing by Franz Beckenbauer, the top officials of the organising committee were aware of it, Wolfgang Niersbach, Horst Schmidt and Fedor Radmann," Zwanziger said in a statement through his lawyer.

All three were top officials in the body at the time. Niersbach has said he first heard of the payment this year and learned the details only last week from Beckenbauer, the former Germany great who was the president of the 2006 organising committee. He said Beckenbauer reached the private deal with suspended Fifa president Sepp Blatter.

Blatter and Fifa have denied any knowledge of the agreement, while Beckenbauer said on Monday that it had been his mistake to go through with it.