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BERLIN — Angela Merkel’s federal government is looking into the corruption allegations blighting German football, it was confirmed on Wednesday.

A Germany Interior Ministry (BMI) spokesman told SID, an AFP subsidiary, that they were reviewing documents concerning the organisation of the 2006 World Cup.

German football has been rocked over an unexplained payment of €6.7 million made to Fifa by the German Football Association (DFB).

Magazine Spiegel has alleged the DFB used the money to buy the votes of four members of Fifa’s executive committee to secure the hosting of the 2006 World Cup.

The DFB and FIFA are both investigating the claims and the German government is now also looking into the allegations.

The ministry’s inquiry is understood to be centred on whether then interior minister Otto Schily, who was part of the World Cup organising committee, had been deceived by the DFB.

“As the former interior minister was a member of the organising committee’s supervisory board, the ministry is checking its own files and is supporting the investigation as far as possible,” said a BMI spokeswoman.

The €6.7 million used by the DFB came from public funds and had appeared in the organisation’s annual reports as a contribution towards the opening ceremony. — AFP.