Fifa is investigating allegations two of its officials offered to sell their votes in the contest to host the 2018 World Cup ahead of December's ballot.

President Sepp Blatter admitted the scandal has had a "very negative impact" on the world governing body.

Reporters from The Sunday Times posed as lobbyists for a consortium of American companies who wanted to bring the tournament to the United States.

Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii allegedly asked for payments.

Adamu, who serves as a Fifa executive committee member, allegedly said he wanted $800,000 (£500,000) to build four artificial football pitches.

This would be completely against Fifa's rules.

The Sunday Times footage appears to show Adamu asking for money to be paid to him directly for endorsing a US bid.

In the video, he was asked whether the money for a "private project" would have an effect on the way he voted.

Adamu, who is president of the West African Football Union, replied: "Obviously, it will have an effect. Of course it will. Because certainly if you are to invest in that, that means you also want the vote."

Temarii, president of the Oceania Football Confederation, is also alleged to have asked for a payment, in his case to finance a sports academy.

Blatter has written to the 24 executive members promising a full investigation.

The letter says: "I am sorry to have to inform you of a very unpleasant situation, which has developed in relation to an article published today in The Sunday Times titled 'World Cup votes for sale'.

"The information in the article has created a very negative impact on Fifa and on the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 Fifa World Cups.

"Some current and former members of the executive committee are mentioned in the article."

He adds: "Fifa will, open an in-depth investigation, which we will start immediately together with the Fifa ethics committee and the Fifa secretary general.

"I will keep you duly informed of any further developments."

Fifa has the option of postponing the vote, which is set for 2 December.

The Oceania Football Confederation confirmed it was investigating the reports.

It issued a statement saying "OFC is aware of the story that appeared in The Sunday Times in England. As such, OFC is currently looking into the matter."

England, Russia and joint bids from Netherlands/Belgium and Spain/Portugal are vying to host the 2018 World Cup.

The United States - the last remaining non-European bidder - pulled out of the race on Friday. Australia withdrew its candidature in June. Both will refocus their efforts on 2022, alongside Japan, South Korea and Qatar.

Former sports minister Richard Caborn told the BBC he was pleased Fifa's ethics committee was looking into the corruption allegations as a matter of urgency.

He said: "It is operational. It is effective. It is transparent. And I'm pleased to see that Fifa has acted decisively on this. We shall await the outcome."

Nigeria: Amos Adamu, FIFA Committee Member in Bribe Allegations
I really do not know what position to take for now about this unprecedented disgraceful act as committed by Amos Adamu caught on camera accepting to collect $800,000 DIRECTLY and in return offering to tilt his vote in the contest to host the 2018 World Cup.

Do i condemn right away or wait for FIFA to investigate and take a decision? They say a ‘thief’ remains a suspect until proven guilty. Is the camera scene being shown on Skynews enough to pass judgment at this stage?

This to me, even if explained away by whatever strange method or reason, Amos Adamu should cease to represent Nigerian football. He is currently representing CAF on the FIFA board. He rose from being a sports director for about 10 years to become a member of CAF, subsequently FIFA. He is still enmeshed in fraud allegations as regards the hosting of the 8th All Africa Games, Abuja Dec 2000 – 2003 where he was Executive Director/CEO

Amos Adamu has been around Nigerian football for about 20 years and the state of our soccer further dictates that we can conclude expressly, he has failed. He just made some nasty utterances about ex-players last week which is still be debated on and now this. This incident has come at a difficult time for Nigerian football compounding the situation.
We were just relieved by the conditional lifting of FIFAsuspension and now this.

I tried to put myself in his shoes but just could not fathom it. Would i wait to be proven guilty or innocent? I don’t think so. I will do more than just resigning, i will rather go underground and have a change of name to reduce the shame. Another question is, do these people feel the shame? Do they care about how they are regarded and perceived, how they are remembered in history?

http://nigeria.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/nigeria-amos-adamu-fifa-committee-member-in-bribe-allegations.html