German politicians on Saturday called for a swift and thorough probe into vote-buying allegations around the nation's awarding of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and did not rule out criminal investigations either.
Dagmar Freitag, head of the parliamentary sports commission, told RBB radio that an internal probe by the national federation DFB is not enough and that external experts must also look into the grave allegations made on Friday by Der Spiegel news magazine.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, speaking in Tehran during a visit to Iran, urged the DFB to "to launch an investigation as soon as possible and clear up the open questions.
"That is in the interest of sport and football. But it is also in our common interest that nothing remains from it," he said.
Freitag said she has doubts that sports is capable of reforming itself.
"My personal opinion is that internal investigations by the DFB are not the measure of all things ... And I believe that the prosecution office could also be interested in these things," she said.
Der Spiegel said that the German bid committee had a slush fund of what is now the equivalent of 6.7 million euros ($A10.37 million) - provided by private funds of then Adidas chief executive Robert Louis-Dreyfus - which was used to buy votes from four Asian executives at the ruling body FIFA to secure the 2006 World Cup.
Germany won the FIFA vote 12-11 against South Africa, with the eight European executives believed to have supported Germany.
The DFB said it "categorically rejects the baseless allegations" but has also said that a payment of 6.7 million euros from the World Cup organising committee to FIFA in 2005 "may not have been used for its intended purpose" but that it was "in no way linked to the awarding of the 2006 World Cup."
Der Spiegel said that Louis-Dreyfus wanted the money back in 2005 and that the payment was made via FIFA, disguised as money for a pre-tournament cultural event in Berlin which was later cancelled.
This could also further discredit FIFA, with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) saying on Saturday that in this case "the world governing body would have readily accepted the role of a money laundering machine."
FIFA, which said late on Friday it will investigate the "very serious allegations," has been rocked by corruption accusations on various fronts, with American and Swiss criminal probes ongoing.
