FIFA bans former German FA president 

Wolfgang Niersbach, the former president of the German FA (DFB), has been banned from all football-related activity for one year.

A FIFA ethics committee found the 65-year-old failed to report possible misconduct concerning the awarding of the 2006 World Cup. Investigators had sought a two-year ban.

Germany beat South Africa 12-11 in the vote, which took place in July 2000.

Niersbach resigned from his DFB role in November last year.

He quit - citing "political responsibility" - amid allegations a £4.9m payment to Fifa was used to buy votes for Germany's successful World Cup bid.

That payment resulted in German authorities opening a tax evasion investigation, but Niersbach - who is also a Fifa executive committee member - said at the time he had always worked "cleanly".

In a statement, the Fifa panel said it had not looked into possible breaches of its code of ethics "in relation to possible acts of bribery and/or corruption", and had "only evaluated Mr Niersbach's awareness of the said incidents".