Germany did not buy votes to help win the hosting rights for the 2006 World Cup, Franz Beckenbauer has insisted.
Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday that an alleged slush fund had been set up with £4.93m loaned by the late Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus for Germany's World Cup bid committee to pay bribes to FIFA officials to land the tournament on German soil.
Beckenbauer, who headed the organising committee for the 2006 World Cup, on Sunday rubbished the notion that a slush fund had been set up to win votes in 2000.
"I never gave money to anyone in order to acquire votes so that Germany is awarded the 2006 World Cup," the former World Cup winning player and coach said in a statement.
"And I am certain that no other member of the bid committee did something like that."
Der Spiegel said that among those aware of the slush fund had been Beckenbauer, as well as Wolfgang Niersbach, the current president of the German Football Association (DFB) who was a vice president of the organising committee, citing internal documents from the DFB.
Niersbach also rejected the allegations on Saturday and said he had ordered his lawyers to take legal action against the magazine.
On Friday the DFB said its own investigation had found no wrongdoing in the process of being awarded the 2006 World Cup, but said it was investigating a payment of £4.93m from the committee to FIFA for a cultural programme during the 2006 World Cup and whether it was used as intended.
Der Spiegel said this payment was a return of a loan paid by Louis-Dreyfus to help it set up the alleged slush fund.
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