German football chief quits over 2006 World Cup scandal

There are times when it's hard to keep up. On the same day that the World Anti-Doping Organisation commission called for Russia to be banned from athletics because of what it believes to be a state-sponsored doping scandal, another shameful sports story was back in the headlines with the resignation of the German football association (DFB) president.

Wolfgang Niersbach stood down on Monday evening over the 2006 World Cup scandal that, in the words of The Guardian "has tarnished the reputation of the world's biggest football federation".

Niersbach is alleged to be immersed in the scandal, and faces an investigation for tax evasion relating to the affair, so his resignation will be relief for the German football association as they try to restore their battered image.

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The scandal erupted last month when German magazine Der Spiegel published allegations connected to the long-running Fifa corruption imbroglio. The magazine alleged that the former Adidas chief executive Robert Louis-Dreyfus "set up a 10.3m Swiss francs (€6.7m) slush fund to buy votes and secure the right to stage the 2006 World Cup".

The vote was staged in 2000 with Germany securing the rights to host the tournament by a majority of 12 votes to 11 over South Africa. It's claimed that the late Louis-Dreyfus, a former majority shareholder in French club Marseille, borrowed the money and lent it to the bidding committee. Louis-Dreyfus "called in the loan a year and a half before the World Cup" with the money "returned to him via Fifa".

Niersbach denies any wrongdoing but explained his reasons for resigning in a press statement. "I decided to resign because I realised I had to take the political responsibility," he said. "I was there from the first day of the bid for the 2006 World Cup until the end... and in all these years I worked not only in a clean way but also with passion and trust."

Niersbach has been employed by the DFB for a quarter of a century, rising from spokesman to general secretary and then president in 2012, and the manner of his departure left him deeply distressed. "That makes it even more depressing and painful to be confronted nine years later with processes I had nothing to do with. I want to make it clear once more that I was not aware of the payments in question. That's what makes the decision to suffer the political consequence so much harder."

The resignations caps a turbulent few weeks for the DFB, which last week had its headquarters raided by police and tax investigators. Niersbach's home was also searched for evidence to "back up suspicions by the Frankfurt prosecutor's office that the president, a World Cup 2006 organising committee vice president, and two former committee colleagues did not pay tax on the controversial €6.7m payment".

Fifa is also said to be investigating the payments, which is probably the last thing the football world would wish for.