World Cup referees denied allegations of a conspiracy involving South Korea on Tuesday after a number of controversial decisions helped the co-hosts reach the World Cup semi-finals.
"We cannot ignore the fact that some other sports have suffered the ignominy of corruption in recent years," said Senes Erzik, the chairman of the Referees Committee of world governing body FIFA.
"But football is a sport that does not lend itself to such dishonesty. Anybody who really knows the game, the people involved in it, and the control mechanisms that are in place, knows in their hearts that this is true."
In a statement FIFA president Sepp Blatter added: "Any allegations of a conspiracy in favour of Korea Republic are dismissed in their entirety."
The Koreans meet Germany in the first semi-final in Seoul later on Tuesday.
Criticism of the refereeing at the World Cup gathered pace after Spain's quarter-final defeat to South Korea last week.
Spain lost on penalties after having two goals disallowed, one of them an extra-time 'golden goal'.
Italy had a goal disallowed for offside and playmaker Francesco Totti was controversially sent off before they lost 2-1 in extra time in the second round to Korea.
FIFA has admitted that major refereeing errors have taken place at the finals.
