FIFA probe an 'embarrassment'

London - England's Soccer World Cup bid team has condemned a BBC documentary alleging corruption by three senior FIFA officials as an "embarrassment."

Three days before the World Cup vote, the BBC named executive committee members Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil, Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay and Issa Hayatou of Cameroon as having allegedly received payoffs from FIFA's former marketing agency.

But England 2018 said in a statement that the "BBC's Panorama did nothing more than rake over a series of historical allegations none of which are relevant to the current bidding process. It should be seen as an embarrassment to the BBC."

England is competing against Russia and joint bids from Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium.