Newsnight, one of the BBC's flagship news programmes, was due Thursday to air a report which claims Arsenal had covertly handed over one million pounds to fund a 2001 takeover of the Belgian club, which specialises in recruiting young players from Ivory Coast.

The report reveals details of a Belgian police investigation into the takeover of the club.

The investigation was triggered by suspicions of Russian mafia involvement but the examining magistrates involved ended up believing that Arsenal had covertly funded the takeover via a consortium known as Goal, according to the BBC.

Among those involved with Goal was Jean-Marc Guillou, a former French international and a close friend of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who helped set up a football academy in the Ivory Coast which has produced a string of top players including Arsenal defenders Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue.

In 2001, Guillou put together a financial restructuring package for heavily-indebted Beveren, which at the time was on the verge of financial collapse.

Arsenal said in a statement that it had provided around one million pounds to help Beveren stabilise its finances but denied breaching the rules of any of football's governing bodies.

The statement said Arsenal had "never owned, directly or indirectly, any shares in Beveren or had any power whatsoever to influence its management or administration."

It acknowledged that the club did "in 2001 provide funds of 1,570,703 Euros by way of loan to a member of a consortium who used the money to assist in stabilising the finances of Beveren."

FIFA President Sepp Blatter told BBC Radio on Thursday that the contents of the BBC's report and Arsenal's response would have to be looked at initially by the English Football Association.

"It will be then be reported later to FIFA but for the time being I am not in a position to make any comments about what punishments or sanctions should be taken against a club," Blatter said.