UEFA president Michel Platini has insisted the BBC Panorama programme screened on Monday night should not affect England's 2018 World Cup bid.
England 2018 leaders reacted with fury to the investigation into FIFA and branded the programme "an embarrassment".
Panorama accused three FIFA executive committee members of taking bribes, and alleged that FIFA vice-president Jack Warner attempted to supply ticket touts.
Platini's remarks to reporters in Zurich after the programme contained both reassurance and warnings for England.
He said: "I don't think this [programme] will have an effect, no - but I think what may affect the decision is the atmosphere going back a long time and what people have been writing about FIFA in the British press for many years."
FIFA vice-president Jack Warner insists he has no interest in the claims made.
Asked about his reaction to the Panorama programme, Warner said: "I really have no interest in this matter... now or ever."
The three accused by Panorama of taking bribes were African confederation president Issa Hayatou, whose vote England 2018 had high hopes of capturing, Brazil's Ricardo Terra Teixeira and Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay.
Warner is the subject of accusations that he "ordered [2010 World Cup] tickets costing 84,240 US dollars from the FIFA ticket office but the deal subsequently fell through".
The four men are all part of the 22-man committee who will vote on the 2018 and 2022 hosts on Thursday. Warner's importance to the England bid is such that Prime Minister David Cameron has invited him to lunch before the vote on Thursday.
The Panorama programme has been criticised over the timing of the screening as the allegations have nothing to do with World Cup votes and all relate to payments made between 21 and 11 years ago by the collapsed company ISL, which had been awarded the marketing rights to successive World Cups by FIFA.
An England 2018 statement said: "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. It should be seen as an embarrassment to the BBC."
Panorama say their investigation was in the public interest and defended the timing of the programme.
A spokesman said: "The programme is in the public interest and shows that some FIFA executives involved in making decisions about the 2018 bid have a history of taking bribes - and that FIFA has consistently failed to act.
"Delay until after the bid was not an option once it became clear that the winning nations might have been chosen by officials with a proven track record of corruption."
The BBC said in a press release that Panorama had obtained a confidential document from inside ISL that listed 175 secret payments made between 1989 and 1999.
Panorama said one Liechtenstein company, Sanud, received 21 payments totaling 9.5million US dollars (£6.1million) and there was "compelling evidence" the money went to Teixeira.
The name of Hayatou, from Cameroon, appears next to a cash payment of 100,000 French Francs (£10,000) in 1995, says the programme.
Leoz has already been named by a Swiss court of receiving two ISL payments totalling 130,000 US dollars (£83,000) and Panorama say the list shows he received three further payments of 200,000 US dollars (£128,000) each.
England are up against Russia, Spain/Portugal and Holland/Belgium for 2018, with Australia, Japan, USA, South Korea and Qatar bidding for 2022.
FIFA are currently attempting to determine if the Oceania federation can replace their suspended president Reynald Temarii on the executive committee, which would make it 23 voting members.
Temarii, from Tahiti, and Nigeria's Amos Adamu were both suspended following the Sunday Times investigation but both have announced their intention to appeal.
