The raids focused on 6.7 million euros (US$7.4 million) the DFB transferred to world soccer’s governing body FIFA in 2005 – adding another layer to US and Swiss investigations into allegations of corruption in the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.

The Frankfurt state prosecutor last month launched a monitoring process – a step before a formal investigation – into the payment.

A spokeswoman said any other suspicion of wrongdoing, such as bribery or corruption, would not be followed up due to the statute of limitations.

Now the investigation will just focus on tax implications, which must be examined within 10 years.

Prosecutors said Wolfgang Niersbach, the president of the DFB, his predecessor Theo Zwanziger and the association’s former general secretary, Horst Schmidt, who all held senior positions on the 2006 organising committee, are suspected of tax evasion over the payment for failing to register the payment properly in tax returns.

Lawyers for Niersbach and Schmidt declined to comment. Zwanziger welcomed the raids and said he wanted the truth to come out.

“The Frankfurt state prosecutor has launched an investigation on suspicion of tax evasion in an especially serious way in relation with the awarding of the 2006 World Cup and the money transfer of 6.7 million euros from the World Cup organising committee to FIFA,” the prosecutor said in a statement.

The DFB and the prosecutor said the association itself was not being investigated.

The investigation stems from a Der Spiegel magazine report in October that suggested a slush fund had been used to buy votes for the German bid in 2000.

It alleged that deceased Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus loaned the money to the German bid committee to buy votes at the FIFA election. Germany won by a single vote from South Africa.

It said the DFB returned the same sum to Louis-Dreyfus via FIFA in 2005. Adidas, a major sponsor of the DFB, declined to comment on the raids.

Niersbach and Franz Beckenbauer, head of the 2006 organising committee, have vehemently denied those accusations, along with the DFB itself. Niersbach told reporters last month there were no slush funds and there was no vote purchase.

Zwanziger, who led the DFB from 2006-2012, said he was only interested in the truth.

“(I want) the truth to finally come out and not by an investigation carried out by the DFB. I am happy it came this way,” Zwanziger told reporters.

“I have no worries. I am totally relaxed. What else might come out of it we will see. But it is better this way than through some kind of investigation committees by people who are involved.”

Theo Zwanziger leaves by car after giving his press statement in western Germany. Photo: AAP.

The payment is being investigated in-house by both the DFB and FIFA. The DFB said in a statement on Tuesday it was cooperating with the prosecutor’s tax investigation.

“The DFB offered the investigators its full cooperation in the clarification of the accusations,” it said.

“The prosecutor’s office said the raids were part of an investigation into suspicion of a tax offence. The DFB itself is not among those accused.”

The raids came as former Brazilian soccer chief Jose Maria Marin was extradited from Switzerland to the United States, to face charges stemming from an FBI investigation into corruption at the highest levels of the sport.

Marin was handed over to two US police officers in Zurich who accompanied him on a flight to New York, a spokesman for the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police said.

The 83-year-old is a former president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, and headed Brazil’s preparations to host the 2014 World Cup. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday morning in Brooklyn federal court, where he is expected to plead not guilty to corruption charges.

His lawyers in the United States and Switzerland did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Marin was among seven officials from global soccer body FIFA who were arrested in May at their Zurich hotel after being indicted on US charges.

The affair has rocked the administration of the world’s most popular sport and upset powerful commercial sponsors. Among those under investigation are veteran FIFA boss Sepp Blatter, who is currently suspended and is due to be replaced in an election in February.

Marin, who agreed last week to be extradited, is accused of having taken bribes in connection with sports marketing rights.

US authorities say he was one a handful of high-ranking soccer officials who were due to receive $US110 million in bribes in exchange for the media rights for regional soccer tournaments. They say at least $US40 million had been paid out by the time the charges were announced.

The indictment also links Marin to a scheme to receive bribes for the commercial rights associated with the Copa do Brasil, an annual tournament for Brazil’s top club teams.

A spokeswoman for the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn declined to comment on the extradition announcement.

– Andreas Krner and Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi, AAP