Police have raided the headquarters of Germany's football association and searched the private homes of officials on suspicion of tax evasion linked to the awarding of the 2006 World Cup.
Reports in German newspapers suggested that the homes of DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach and former president Theo Zwanziger had been raided.
Documents and hard drives were seized from the DFB's headquarters in Frankfurt, according to German news agency DPA, which said 50 officers were involved.
It follows the disclosure that the DFB made a secret payment of 6.7m euro (£4.6m) to FIFA in 2005. An internal audit has failed to find any trace of the 6.7m euros in the DFB's tax documents.
German prosecutors confirmed: "Prosecutors in Frankfurt have opened investigations on suspicion of serious tax evasion linked to the awarding of the football championship in 2006 and the transfer of 6.7m euros of the organising committee for the German Football Association (DFB) to the FIFA football association."
The raids follow similar police action at FIFA's headquarters earlier this year.
Frank Beckenbauer, who lives in Austria, was president of the 2006 World Cup bid and last week admitted the DFB had made a "mistake" in paying the 6.7m euros, but denied that the money was used to buy votes.
He said: "In order to obtain financial support from FIFA, a suggestion by FIFA's finance commission was followed which, in hindsight, should have been rejected.
"No votes were bought in order to win the right to stage the 2006 World Cup."
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