England's hopes of hosting the 2018 World Cup were rocked on Sunday when bid chief David Triesman stood down following a newspaper report in which he appeared to make bribery allegations against rival bidders.
The Mail on Sunday published the contents of what it said was a secretly taped private conversation between Triesman, who is also chairman of the Football Association (FA), and a former aide from his time as a government minister.
Triesman reportedly suggested that World Cup favourites Spain, with the help of Russia, were seeking to bribe referees at next month's finals in South Africa. Sources confirmed that Triesman had stood down while England 2018 chiefs moved quickly to distance themselves from his reported comments, saying that apologies had been faxed to their Spanish and Russian counterparts as well as governing body FIFA.
A World Cup 2018 bid spokesman said Triesman's alleged comments in no way represented their own views. Triesman, whose position as chairman of the FA could now be in jeopardy, was quoted as saying Russia could help Spain bribe referees in return for Spain withdrawing its own bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
Russia responded with their bid chief calling on FIFA's ethical commission to deal with the situation. "From the very beginning we've been committed to maintaining the ethical norms and the principles of fair play in our World Cup campaign," Alexei Sorokin told Reuters. The FA, which the Mail on Sunday said had failed in an attempt to get a High Court injunction preventing publication of Triesman's conversation, declined to comment.
Newly-appointed Sports Minister Hugh Robertson said Triesman's decision to stand down was the correct one, adding that he doubted it would cause long-term harm to England's bid to host the World Cup for the first time since 1966.