Blatter: England are bad losers

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has rejected allegations of corruption at the world's football governing body, calling England bad losers for their reaction to the failed bid.

Russia and Qatar won the right to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, leaving many in the UK questioning the legitimacy of the football organisation.

In an interview with Swiss weekly magazine Weltwoche, Blatter said: "To be honest, I was surprised by all the English complaining after the defeat. England, of all people, the motherland of fairplay ideas".

"Now some of them are showing themselves to be bad losers," the president said.

"You can't come afterwards and say so and so promised to vote for England. The results are known. The outcome came out clearly", he added.

Roger Burden, acting chairman of the Football Association, withdrew his application for the permanent position last week, saying he could no longer trust Fifa members after the failure of England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

He added that England's bid team in Zurich, which included Prime Minister David Cameron and the second in line to the throne, Prince William, were promised votes which had not been delivered by Fifa executive committee members.