Police officers and cartel agency officials seized documents during the raids in Frankfurt, prompting an angry response from the two organisations which rejected the allegations. The DFB said it would seek advice on whether the raid was legal.
According to German press reports, the DFB and DFL are suspected of setting up a working group to limit competition between the two organisations and German professional football clubs for sponsorship.
DFB General Secretary, Wolfgang Niersbach, said: “This incident is inconceivable to us all as we always co-operate correctly and fairly with all the authorities, which was the secret of our success in the 2006 World Cup. There is not the slightest reason to hide anything. If the cartel office had contacted us directly, it would have received an entirely satisfactory response with all the requested documents.”
Silke Kaul, spokeswoman for the federal cartel office, told sports news agency SID: “We have our reasons why we chose to conduct a raid. We don't act like Rambos, we do our job in a reasonable way".
The DFB and DFL both said the cartel office had made it clear the probe had nothing to do with the ongoing sale of DFL television rights.
