The President of the German Football Federation (DFB), Wolfgang Niersbach, resigned today with immediate effect due to the scandal of the alleged purchase of votes to organize the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

"I have come to the conclusion that the time has come for me to assume political responsibility," Niersbach said in Frankfurt at the end of an extraordinary session of the DFB called to address the crisis.

A member of the FIFA and UEFA executive committees, positions he intends to keep, Niersbach is one of the most powerful men in international football and, until the outbreak of the 2006 World Cup scandal, was considered one of the favorites to succeed Michel Platini as head of the European federation in case the Frenchman made the leap to FIFA.

According to the statutes, DFB vice presidents Rainer Koch and Reinhard Rauball will temporarily assume the presidency of the federation. Rauball announced that the external investigation commissioned by the DFB to the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has not been concluded with Niersbach's resignation. "It will continue, regardless of the reputation or merits of the people involved," Rauball said.

Niersbach will retain his positions on the executive committees of FIFA and UEFA. The presidency unanimously asked him to do so "to make his outstanding network of contacts available to German football," Rauball said.

THE FACTS

Niersbach, 64, and president of the DFB since 2012, had been under media scrutiny for weeks due to a questionable payment of 6.7 million euros (7.4 million dollars) to FIFA in 2005. It is suspected that this money was used to pay bribes in the allocation of the 2006 World Cup.

According to his version, it was a loan repayment that had been granted to them between 2000 and 2002 by the then head of the German multinational Adidas, Robert Louis-Dreyfus. In 2005, it was transferred back to him, disguised as payment for a FIFA gala.

The pretext of the gala would have allowed the DFB executives to evade taxes corresponding to this multimillion-dollar payment, which was made under the guise of a business expense. The tax authorities are investigating the alleged tax evasion.

As suggested by the magazine "Der Spiegel" weeks ago, the money was allegedly intended to buy the necessary votes in the FIFA executive committee to win the 2006 World Cup.