England 2018 World Cup bid team have claimed the Panorama allegations should be an embarrassment to the BBC.

England 2018 issued a statment in the wake of the airing of the Panorama on Monday, in an effort to distance them from the allegations made by the program.

"We stand by our previous position 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," said the statement.

"It should be seen as an embarrassment to the BBC.

"The 2018 team are entirely focused on winning the bid for England," the statement said.

The Panorama documentary alleged that Issa Hayatou, Ricardo Terra Teixeira and Nicolas Leoz, all FIFA executive members who will vote to dicide on the hosts of 2018 and 2022 World Cups on December 2nd, had previously taken bribes.

England are up against Russia, Spain/Portugal and Holland/Belgium for 2018, with Australia, Japan, USA, South Korea and Qatar bidding for 2022.

There were fears that the Panorama programme could damage England's chances, although FIFA had no immediate comment on the reports.