Allegations that Germany bribed its way to secure the right to host the 2006 World Cup not only shook the football world, but also shone a spotlight on cosy ties between sportswear giant Adidas and FIFA.
At the heart of the latest graft claims to rock world football is a 10.3 million Swiss francs payment made in 2000 by Adidas's former boss Robert Louis-Dreyfus to the German Football Federation (DFB).
News weekly Der Spiegel claimed in a report late last week that DFB borrowed the sum in order to buy the votes of four Asian members of FIFA's 24-strong executive committee.
The magazine claimed the DFB subsequently transferred 6.7 million euros — the equivalent of the borrowed Swiss francs at the time — to a FIFA account in 2005 to repay Louis-Dreyfus. The DFB has denied the claims, while Adidas has sought to distance itself from the case.
“We are not aware of such a payment by Robert Louis-Dreyfus,” said the brand with the three-stripes logo.
"We can rule out that it was a business operation of Adidas AG." In other words, Louis-Dreyfus could have used his own money, and not company funds, an Adidas spokesman said.