Paris - The battle for FIFA's top job was thrown into further turmoil on Sunday when president Sepp Blatter's main rival for the post, Mohamed bin Hammam, ended his campaign amid a bitter fall-out over allegations of corruption.

Bin Hammam's decision came just hours before both the Qatari and Blatter were scheduled to face the ethics committee of soccer's world governing body over bribery allegations.

As Blatter was due to respond to claims that he knew about cash payments at the centre of a probe targeting bin Hammam, the latter ended his campaign saying he was "hurt and disappointed".