More allegations of corruption during the bidding process to stage the World Cups in 2018 and 2022 have been made

Fifa faces more questions after latest World Cup claims

According to BBC: The House of Commons Culture Media and Sport select committee has published previously unseen material submitted to it by the Sunday Times newspaper.

This submission by the Sunday Times outlines how England 2018 executives compiled a database of rumours and intelligence - gathered by private companies and, significantly, British embassies.

There is, however, no clear evidence supplied by the paper.

Instead, its submission provides detailed accounts of how votes were allegedly bought and sold in the build-up to the December 2010 poll - and how Fifa's opaque rules for bidding nations were exploited.

The paper claims Russia's President Vladimir Putin played a major role in his country's winning bid, even, it says, enlisting Fifa's president Sepp Blatter to help lobby for votes.

There are also allegations about Qatar, and how its dominance in the natural gas industry helped it secure votes through bilateral trade deals.

According to Business Insider: Visa has become the latest World Cup sponsor to publicly criticize football's governing body FIFA for its handling of the investigation into alleged corruption over the bidding process that will see Russia holding the 2018 tournament and the 2022 competition being held in Qatar.

Visa released this statement on its corporate Tumblr page:

"We are troubled by the recent events surrounding FIFA.  In our discussions we have clearly stated that greater transparency and more open, forthright communications is not only paramount, but the only way in which public trust in FIFA, and all that it represents, will be restored. It is our expectation that FIFA will act accordingly and take swift action to resolve these issues in a manner that is meaningful and visible to all."

FIFA has an ever-growing crisis on its hands: it needs to hold on to the support of its sponsors as they account for 40% its commercial revenue, according to its latest financial filings. But that support is waning, at least as far as corporate communications are concerned.

Visa's statement comes in the same week Coca-Cola said the handling of FIFA's botched investigation into the bidding process has been "disappointing."

It adds to the growing negative tenor between sponsors and FIFA — other sponsors including Adidas, Hyundai, Sony and Budweiser have all previously released statements criticizing FIFA and the media storm it has created surrounding the World Cup bidding process — and brands are looking to distance themselves from the scandals.