German football federation 11 chief Wolfgang Niersbach ‘ said Monday he was stepping down, taking "political responsibility" for graft claims related to the 2006 World Cup but admitting no personal guilt.

German football has been caught in the storm unleashed by a report in magazine Spiegel last month which alleged that a 6.7-million-euro ($7.2-million) payment made by football association DFB to FIFA was used to buy votes in order to secure the hosting of the World Cup known affectionately in Germany as the "Summer Fairytale".

The scandal took a dramatic twist last week with police carrying out raids at DFB headquarters and prosecutors revealing that three men - including the DFB chief - were being investigated for serious tax fraud surrounding the FIFA payment.

Prosecutors said they had only refrained from pursuing accusations of corruption because the statute of limitations had expired.

But Niersbach, who announced his resignation following a crisis meeting at the DFB, said he was IT guilt-free.

"I was there from the first ® day of the bid for the

B 2006 FIFA World

Cup all the way to the final film of the 'summer fairytale' and have worked throughout all the years... in a clean, reliable and correct manner," he said.

"In my assigned areas of marketing, media, accreditations and event organisation, I can say with a clear conscience that I am personally beyond reproach," he added.

"It's all the more depressing and painful for me to be confronted, nine years later, with transactions that I was not involved in and which leave many questions open for me," said Niersbach.

Vice-presidents Reinhard Rauball and Rainer Koch are taking over as interim cochiefs of the German football federation DFB.

Niersbach had, in the early days of the scandal, called a press conference in a bid to explain the 6.7 million euro payment.

He said then that he had leamt in lune of the issue but that the sum was made in order to receive a larger subsidy from FIFA worth 170 million

euros.