England 2018 bid chiefs have made a formal complaint to FIFA about the head of Russia's rival campaign after he make derogatory comments about London. Andrei Sorokin, chief executive of Russia 2018, highlighted London's ""high crime rate"" and youth alcohol problems in an interview that appeared to contravene FIFA's bidding rules about talking about rival bidders and although Sorokin has since made an apology, he then insisted the remarks were true.

An England 2018 spokesman said: ""We can confirm a complaint has been made to FIFA.""
It is understood the England bid team are seeking a formal apology from Sorokin for trying to denigrate their bid rather than expecting FIFA's ethics committee to deal with the case before the December 2 vote.