Big questions are emerging about the way Germany won the right to stage the 2006 World Cup.

German news magazine Der Spiegel has published allegations claiming FIFA executive committee members accepted money for their votes.

Earlier, the German Football Association insisted a near €7M payment by the tournament's organising committee to FIFA was not in exchange for the right to stage the event.

In their report, Der Spiegel claim that Germany legend the head of the bidding committee Franz Beckenabuer and the current chief of the German FA were aware of a "slush fund" into which large sums were "filled secretly" then-Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus.