According to rumours, corruption have a major role to play in the defeat of England's World Cup bid. "What I can say is that the reports definitely had an impact on the England bid. There's no mistake about that," Junji Ogura, who was one of the 22 FIFA members who cast the deciding votes in a ballot last week that gave the 2018 World Cup to Russia, was quoted as saying.

Japan Football was bidding for the 2022 World Cup, which went to Qatar.

Two executive board members were suspended in the wake of a newspaper sting, and other old allegations resurfaced in the leadup to last week's vote in Zurich for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The British Broadcasting Corp.'s Panorama allegations that FIFA executive committee members Ricardo Teixeira (Brazil), Nicolas Leoz and Issa Hayatou received cash from FIFA's former marketing partner ISL between 1989-99. ISL collapsed in 2001 with huge debts, sparking a fraud trial.