Head Of Football Resign Over Allegations Of Fraud

Wolfgang Niersbach who became president of the federation in 2012 where he was in charge of media and marketing has resigned over a payment made to FIFA.

The head of Germany's football federation departure follows controversy over €6.7m (£4.77m) transferred to world football's governing body in 2005 - a year before the World Cup was held in Germany.

It has been alleged that the money was used to bribe officials to vote for the country's World Cup bid.

In a resignation letter posted on the Deutscher Fussball-Bund website, Mr Niersbach denied having any knowledge of the payment, and said he was standing down to protect the federation.

However, his predecessor as head of the German FA, Theo Zwanziger, has accused Mr Niersbach of lying - and claimed he was aware of the payment when it was made.

The embattled official, who is also on the executive committees of FIFA and UEFA, is currently being investigated for tax evasion.

According to German media, detectives raided the federation's headquarters in Frankfurt last week - as well as Mr Nierbach's private residence in the town of Dreieich.

After an emergency meeting of the federation took place, Mr Niersbach told reporters he was taking "political responsibility" for the scandal - but insisted he had no reason to "reproach himself".