German daily Bild claim Fedor Radmann, the deputy president of the organising committee for the 2006 World Cup hosted by Germany, has been informed he has 20 days to prove he has transferred the sum.

The procedure and fixed time limit are usual practice for debt recovery procedure in Switzerland, where Radmann now lives, and a DFB spokesman says it is intended to impede the limitation of possible claims against Rahmann.

“In this case, it is about maintaining legal positions,” a DFB spokesman told Bild.

“In Switzerland, this is done through the procedures of debt collection and we have followed the necessary steps in due time.”

The sum of €6.7 million corresponds to the cash transferred by the organising committee to football's world governing body FIFA, which has never been satisfactorily explained, in 2000, just days before Germany won the right to host the 2006 World Cup.

Both Franz Beckenbauer, the chairman of the 2006 World Cup organising committee, and Wolfgang Niersbach, the former president of the DFB who resigned over the scandal, which first came to light last October, have denied any wrongdoing.

They are both cooperating with German and Swiss investigators who are looking into the awarding of the 2006 World Cup, which Germany won by a narrow vote from South Africa.