Other website sections

»Sports Market Reports

»Sports Jobs

»Tenders

»Directory

»Conferences

Lord Triesman has resigned as chairman of the Football Association and the England 2018 World Cup bid after apparently accusing rival bidding nations of corruption.

The Mail on Sunday claimed over the weekend that Triesman suggested Spain could drop its 2018 bid if Russia helped bribe referees at this summer's World Cup.

The revelations came only two days after Triesman and David Beckham submitted England’s 2018 bid book to Fifa.

The England 2018 team has apologised to the Russian and Spanish FAs as it tries to rescue the World Cup bid with a decision due in December.

FA board members David Sheepshanks and Roger Burden have been drafted in as acting joint-chairmen of England's governing body, while former FA chairman Geoff Thompson is the new chairman of the World Cup bid.

Thompson joined the bid board last year and is also the only English member of the Fifa executive committee – the 24 men who vote on the World Cup hosts.

Triesman said in a statement: "I have decided to resign as chairman of the FA and the 2018 bid board.

"A private conversation with someone whom I thought to be a friend was taped without my knowledge and passed to a national newspaper.

"That same friend has also chosen to greatly exaggerate the extent of our friendship.

"In that conversation, I commentated on speculation circulating about conspiracies around the world. Those comments were never intended to be taken seriously as indeed is the case with many private conversations.

"The views expressed were not the views of the 2018 bid board or the FA.

"Nobody should be under any misapprehension that the FA or 2018 bid board are disrespectful of other nations or Fifa and I regret any such inference that may have been drawn from what has been reported.

"Entrapment, especially by a friend, is an unpleasant experience both for my family and me but it leaves me with no alternative but to resign.

"I have immediately informed the FA board of my decision."

The FA tried unsuccessfully to get an injunction against publication of the Triesman story on privacy grounds.

The Mail on Sunday quotes Triesman as saying: "There's some evidence that the Spanish football authorities are trying to identify the referees and pay them.

"My assumption is that the Latin Americans, although they've not said so, will vote for Spain. And if Spain drop out, because Spain are looking for help from the Russians to help bribe the referees in the World Cup, their votes may then switch to Russia."

Fifa rules prohibit World Cup bidders from talking about rival bids.

A European bid is tipped to get the 2018 tournament with England up against Russia and joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands.

Russia insisted its bid was committed to "maintaining ethical norms and the principles of fair play”.

"I don't know why there are so many rumours regarding Russia's World Cup bid," Russian bid chief Alexei Sorokin told Reuters.

"Maybe because we're moving in the right direction and our rivals see us as a major force and try to derail our bid campaign."