The head of the German Football Federation has condemned FIFA's payment of €5 million to the Football Association of Ireland for them to not contest their defeat in a crucial World Cup playoff against France as "a joke."
The game in Paris saw a handball from Thierry Henry lead to the William Gallas goal that gave France a 2-1 aggregate victory in November 2009, sending them through to the 2010 tournament.
Wolfgang Niersbach, a FIFA executive committee member, told German television station ZDF: "It is a joke that they paid this money out to stop the Irish taking them in front of court."
His comments came after the president of the French Football Federation told L'Equipe he was unaware FIFA had made the payment.
Noel Le Graet, vice-president of French football's governing body at the time of the handball, said after FAI chief executive John Delaney revealed the payment on Thursday that he had "never heard speak of a deal between FIFA and Ireland."
"I only remember that Ireland weren't happy at all, and that there was also a movement in France against Les Bleus' qualification by do-gooders," he told the paper.
"Did FIFA pay a large sum? If that man says so..."
The handball, which happened in the second leg of the match in Paris, was not seen by Swedish referee Martin Hansson.
The FAI's former chief executive, Fran Rooney, said his successor Delaney should have ensured that both the signed contract with FIFA and the terms of the loan were disclosed in 2010. He said the FAI's accounts from 2010-13, the most recent year of publication, indicated that the FAI held no long-term loans from any source.
"The FAI needs to explain where that money supposedly appears in their accounts. I don't see it and I don't think anybody at their [annual general meetings] can see it," Rooney said.
Rooney said he couldn't believe that FIFA had paid a cent. He said Henry's uncalled handball "didn't stop us from going to the World Cup. It stopped us from getting a penalty shootout perhaps. But it's nonsensical to think we had a case that we could have won."
Raymond Domenech, France's coach during the match, said the Irish should have pressed FIFA in public and in court to demand a place at the World Cup.
"Their qualification was at stake," Domenech told French radio network Europe1. "On a sporting level, it's disgraceful -- unacceptable -- that you might sacrifice that for money.''
Liam Brady, who stepped down as former coach Giovanni Trappatoni's assistant after the 2010 World Cup campaign, called news of the secret FIFA payout "mind-boggling" and said he knew nothing about it.
"Certainly none of the staff knew about it and none of the players knew about it at the time," Brady said.
Roy Keane, one of Ireland's greatest players and now an assistant coach with the national squad, said his team had "hardly spoken about" the deal, and he didn't want to be drawn into it, either.
"I'm not going into the FIFA stuff," Keane said as the Ireland team gathered in suburban Dublin to prepare for Sunday's friendly against England.
Jim Boyce, who stepped down as Britain's FIFA vice-president last week, said there should be a full investigation into such "arbitrary" payments.
Boyce, from Northern Ireland, told PA Sport he was "absolutely astounded" by news of the payment and said he hoped there would be "a full investigation... into this and any other such arbitrary payments."