It has been reported that Amadou Diallo, a lobbyist with close ties to former FIFA vice-president Mohamed bin Hammam, was paid around €10,000 (£7,436/$11,000) in the build-up to the 2010 ballot for his help in securing votes.

Any association to Bin Hammam automatically raise suspicion of wrongdoing as the Qatari was banned for football for life in 2012 for misconduct during his time as President of the Asian Football Confederation, which came after he had been hit with a life suspension in 2011 for bribing other Football Associations in his FIFA Presidential campaign and during the 2018 and 2022 bid races.

The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) has also revealed it will launch its own investigation into the accusations of corruption.

“The KNVB has taken note of the reports in De Volkskrant on Saturday, December 12th about the process surrounding the World Cup bid from Netherlands and Belgium in 2010,” a statement read.

“In the context of due diligence, the Dutch FA has launched an investigation in which all documents pertaining to the procedure of the World Cup bid will be scrutinised.”

Harry Been, a former KNVB general secretary and a member of the Bid Committee for The Netherlands and Belgium's joint effort, has denied wrongdoing but insisted he takes the allegations seriously.

“I cannot remember that we in the World Cup campaign bid for 2018 allowed anything inappropriate to pass by,” he said.

“I obviously take questions from this newspaper and the investigation seriously.

“Files from that time will be removed and studied as quickly as possible and evaluated.

“We will then notify the result to the outside world.”

The combined Dutch-Belgian bid, which was successful in its attempt to host the 2000 European Championships, failed to win the rights to stage the 2018 tournament, awarded controversially to Russia.

The Netherlands and Belgium polled four votes in the first round, which saw England knocked out with just two.

That dropped to two in the second as Russia won with 13 and the joint bid from Portugal and Spain got seven. 

Both the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid processes are being investigated as part of a widespread probe into corruption within world football’s governing body.

It was also claimed in June by an American law enforcement official that the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups is part of a criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The news comes amid continued allegations of corruption within the 2006 and 2010 World Cup bid races, won by Germany and South Africa respectively.

Germany’s bid has been shrouded in claims that a slush fund was set up to buy votes, while the accusations around South Africa’s victory have forced FIFA Presidential candidate Tokyo Sexwale to fend off suggestions their bid was corrupt.

Sexwale recently appeared in front of a Grand Jury in the United States as a potential witness and was questioned over an alleged corrupt payment of $10 million (£7 million/€9 million) made to former vice-president Jack Warner.

The South African businessman claims, however, that the reason for his appearance was purely to gather information.