The head of Germany's football federation has resigned following over a payment made to FIFA.
Wolfgang Niersbach's departure follows controversy over €6.7m 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 involvement in the payments, and said he was standing down to protect the federation.
The executive 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.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
