On 16 October 2015, the German news magazine Der Spiegel alleged that a slush fund with money from then-آدیداس CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus was used to influence the vote of four Asian members of the FIFA executive committee. The sum of 6.7 million Euro was later demanded back by Dreyfus. In order to retrieve the money, the Organizing Committee paid an equivalent sum to the FIFA, allegedly as a German share for the cost of a closing ceremony, which never materialized. Wolfgang Niersbach, president of the آلمان فوتبال فدراسیونو (DFB), denied the allegations on 17 October 2015, saying that "the World Cup was not bought" and that he could "absolutely and categorically rule out the existence of a slush fund". The DFB announced they would consider seeking legal action against Der Spiegel. During a press conference on 22 October 2015, Nierbach repeated his stance, emphasizing that the 6,7 million were used in 2002 to secure a subsidy by FIFA. According to Niersbach, the payment had been agreed upon during a meeting between فرانس بکن‌باور and FIFA president Blatter, with the money being provided by Dreyfus. On the same day, FIFA contradicted Niersbach's statement, saying: "By our current state of knowledge, no such payment of 10 million Franks was registered by FIFA in 2002." The following day, former DFB president Theo Zwanziger publicly accused Niersbach of lying, saying: "It is evident that there was a slush fund for the German World Cup application". According to Zwanziger, the 6.7 million Euros went to Mohamed Bin Hammam, who at the time was supporting Blatter's campaign for president against Issa Hayatou.