Soccer:The English FA will abstain in next month's Fifa presidential election. FA chiefs had all but ruled out supporting current incumbent Sepp Blatter and last week's fresh allegations of World Cup bidding corruption involving Qatar made it increasingly likely that they would abstain in the vote on June 1st.

Blatter’s opponent is Mohamed Bin Hammam, whose own candidacy has been tarnished by claims last week that two Fifa members were paid to vote for Qatar 2022 — he played the key role in securing the tournament for his country.

FA chairman David Bernstein said in a statement today: “There are a well-reported range of issues both recent and current which, in the view of The FA board, make it difficult to support either candidate.

“The FA values its relationships with its international football partners extremely highly. We are determined to play an active and influential role through our representation within both Uefa and Fifa. We will continue to work hard to bring about any changes we think would benefit all of international football.”