The 64-year-old announced that he is stepping down following an extraordinary DFB meeting today, with questions remaining about an undisclosed loan of almost €6.7 million (£4.9 million/$7.7 million) which was made to the country's successful bid team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Former Adidas chief executive Robert Louis-Dreyfus made the payment in 2000 and it never appeared on official accounts, according to German magazine Der Spiegel.

Niersbach, whose home was raided by police last week along with the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt, insisted that the money was not used as part of a slush fund to buy votes but was unable to explain what the cash was actually for.

He said he was resigning to protect the DFB but continued to deny wrongdoing.

"I was there from the first day of the bid for the 2006 World Cup, all the way to the final documentation of that summer fairytale, and have worked all these years and at all times not only with great passion but always cleanly, confidently and correctly," Niersbach said in a statement.

"I can say with a clear conscience that I have absolutely nothing to be personally reproached for.

"It is more depressing and painful for me to be faced with procedures nine years later over a time when I was not involved.

"I make it clear once again, unequivocally, that I had no knowledge of the background of the cash flows.

"To protect the DFB and the office, I step down with a heavy heart as DFB President.

"Nevertheless, I will contribute anything for a comprehensive explanation of the processes."

Niersbach had previously explained that the €6.7 million was paid to FIFA in 2002 so the Germany bid could receive €170 million (£121 million/$187 million) in subsidies from world football’s governing body.

When asked, however, why they required the payment to trigger a far higher sum, he answered that he did not know.

The raid at the DFB headquarters and Niersbach's home were due to allegations of tax evasion.

The home of his predecessor, Theo Zwanziger, was also searched, as was the address of former general secretary Horst Schmidt

Germany's World Cup bid was led by former World Cup winning captain and coach Franz Beckenbauer - with the country winning a slender vote 12-11 over South Africa.

This came after New Zealand's Charlie Dempsey abstained from the decisive second round of voting, blaming "intolerable pressure" the night before the vote.

Beckenbauer himself faces being banned from football following investigations by the FIFA Ethics Committee into his conduct during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding processes, when he was a member of the FIFA Executive Committee. 

The 70-year-old admitted he had made a "mistake" in the bidding process to host the 2006 World Cup, but denied vote buying.

"In order to get a subsidy from FIFA those involved went ahead with a proposal from the FIFA Finance Commission that in today's eyes should have been rejected," he said. 

"I, as President of the then-Organising Committee bear the responsibility of this mistake."

Nikolas Hill, the chief executive of Hamburg's bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, said the scandal "did not help" the German campaign for the Games.


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November 2015: German Football Association headquarters raided amid tax evasion allegations
October 2015: German football chief unable to fully explain suspicious 2006 FIFA World Cup payments
October 2015: Beckenbauer and Villar facing bans, FIFA Ethics Committee reveal
October 2015: Bach calls for "prompt and full" investigation into Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup corruption allegations