The FIFA Ethics Committee has opened a bribery investigation into seven officials from Germany’s 2006 World Cup bid team, Sky Sports have reported.

Among those under investigation is the German legend Franz Beckenbauer who is suspected of wrongdoing linked to the winning of hosting rights in 2000 together with four other members of the German bidding team.

Germany beat South Africa 12-11 in a vote to determine the hosting right.

FIFA ethics prosecutors say they opened the proceedings against Wolfgang Niersbach, Theo Zwanziger, Horst Schmidt, Stefan Hans, Franz Beckenbauer, all linked to “possible undue payments and contracts”.

German officials are believed to have gained an advantage in the 2006 FIFA World Cup host selection and the associated funding that involved offering and accepting of gifts and other benefits, bribery and corruption.

Beckenbauer and the DFB team have previously rejected all the allegations as groundless insisting that German bidding team acted in accordance with the law.

German legend Franz Beckenbauer had already been banned by FIFA after he refused to take part in ethics commission inquiry in 2014. He was banned from taking part in any football-related activities for 90 days as FIFA claimed Beckenbauer failed to co-operate with the inquiry into FIFA’s vote to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively.

The latest revelation will nevertheless cast a shadow on Germany’s upcoming international friendlies against England and Italy.

World Champions from 2014 continue their preparations for the Euro 2016 with two high-profile matches on their own soil and first up are the Three Lions.

England travel to Berlin to go head to head with Low’s men at the Olympiastadion on Saturday and Germany stands at 1.62 (8/13) @Bet365 to claim the three maximum points against Roy Hodgson’s men.

Three Days later Germany are playing with Italy at Allianz Arena in Munich.