Thursday 1 October 2015 06:40, UK
The Football Association says it remains behind Michel Platini's candidacy to be FIFA president but there are issues which need to be "fully examined".
The Frenchman has been questioned by Swiss legal authorities over a £1.3m payment he received from FIFA in 2011 for work carried out for the organisation more than nine years previously.
The UEFA president insists the delay was because of FIFA's financial position at the time but has not explained why there was a wait of nine years. The issue was discussed at an FA board meeting on Wednesday.
Current FIFA president Sepp Blatter is being investigated as a suspect, while Platini is being treated "between a witness and an accused person," according to Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber. FIFA's ethics committee is investigating both Platini and Blatter.
An FA statement said: "In July, The FA board decided unanimously to support Michel Platini if he intended to stand for the presidency of FIFA.
"We did so because we thought he was an excellent president of UEFA and could bring those same leadership qualities to FIFA. We are still of that view.
"However, events of recent days have raised a number of issues which do need to be fully examined. We are following the ongoing investigation initiated by the Swiss Attorney General with which Mr Platini is co-operating with in full.
"We also recognise that Mr Platini has contacted the FIFA Ethics Committee inviting them to look into the matter and to interview him.
"As we said back in July, the most important matter is the urgent reform of FIFA. We believe the whole structure of FIFA needs to be fundamentally changed and we are committed to our efforts to ensure this happens."
The rift between former close allies Blatter and Platini widened recently when UEFA complained to FIFA about a document being distributed that attempted to discredit its president, leading to the departure of one of Blatter's staff.
Platini is vying to replace Blatter in the emergency FIFA election in February. To stand in the election, Platini has to pass FIFA integrity checks after the October 26 cut-off for the submission of candidacies.
Other key European nations have also adopted a cautious approach regarding support for Platini.
The German football federation, the DFB, had been one of the first federations to throw their weight behind Platini in July after Blatter announced he would step down.
"Part of a serious administration is to look carefully at what it is about and whether there is indeed misconduct," DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper.
The February 26 election will take place in Zurich, and each of FIFA's 209 national associations will have one vote.
After Italian Football Federation head Carlo Tavecchio said Platini was the right person to lead FIFA reform in July, he said this week the Italians were waiting to see how judicial proceedings developed.
Swedish FA chair Karl-Erik Nilsson insisted they remained fully behind Platini.
In his first detailed explanation, Platini said on Tuesday that he only requested payment in 2011 because, when he took the job as a Blatter adviser in 1998, FIFA's "financial situation" meant he could not be paid the "totality" of his salary.
