ZURICH — FIFA hopes its investigation into "crazy allegations" by a senior English official that Spain is trying to bribe World Cup referees will be concluded before the tournament begins.
"We want to have something definitive before the World Cup," FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said Tuesday.
The monthlong tournament kicks off June 11.
Valcke said it was good that former English Football Association head David Triesman's comments emerged before matches began.
"It gives us time to make sure that all of this is wrong and that they are crazy allegations," he said.
However, Valcke confirmed FIFA's Ethics Committee will examine the substance of Triesman's claims, as well as the possibility he broke World Cup bidding rules by criticizing rival candidates.
"Now we are waiting for statements," Valcke said. "The Ethics Committee will decide which persons they want to hear and to convoke."
He suggested that the report could be completed as soon as "the next few days."
"We will do it as soon as we can and not waste any time," Valcke said.
Triesman was secretly tape-recorded by a tabloid newspaper suggesting Russia was going to help Spain bribe World Cup referees in return for support in the race to host the 2018 or 2022 finals.
He quit on Sunday as chairman of the FA and chairman of England's bid within hours of the report being published.
Triesman was supported Tuesday by Michel Platini, president of European governing body UEFA and a member of FIFA's executive committee which will pick the winning bids.
"I have a good friendship with [David] Triesman and I want to help him in his bad moment," Platini told Britain's Press Association agency.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of FIFA's football rules-making panel, he said the England bid campaign was damaged but not finished.
"England is a great country and, of course, it can recover and survive this," Platini said.
That view was shared by London 2012 Olympics chief Sebastian Coe.
"It is a strong bid. It will survive," said Coe, who is on the board of the 2018 bid team. "This has been a traumatic thing to have happened but the foundation stones of a good bid are in place. This is not having to change plans, ripping up a bid book.
"This is about continuing to present the bid and let the majority of the members know the quality of the bid and our thinking. Not very much has altered."
Former England striker Gary Lineker has reportedly quit as a columnist for the Mail on Sunday over the newspaper's decision to print the allegations about Triesman.
The Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday that Lineker is upset that the paper printed the story in the knowledge that it could derail England's chances of hosting the World Cup.
Europe is favored to be awarded the 2018 finals, with England and Russia competing against joint proposals from Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium.
Australia and the United States are also in both races. Japan, Qatar and South Korea are bidding only for 2022.
FIFA's 24-member executive will choose the two hosts at a Dec. 2 meeting in Zurich.