Gary Lineker has quit his weekly column in the Mail on Sunday in protest at the newspaper's publication of Lord Triesman's secretly recorded conversation on Sunday.

The story led to Triesman's immediate resignation as the chairman of the FA and of its bid to host the 2018 World Cup, and has forced the bid team into a frantic operation to re-establish its credibility.

Lineker, the former England international and World Cup star turned BBC presenter, is an official ambassador of the bid and believes the Mail on Sunday's story had little merit but did potentially serious damage to the effort to bring the 2018 tournament to this country.

"The story itself, the circumstances surrounding it and the actions of the Mail on Sunday in publishing it have undermined the bid to bring the World Cup to England in 2018," Lineker said.

"I wholeheartedly support the bid, because I believe that hosting the tournament would be brilliant for the country, and I am an official ambassador for it. I have therefore taken the view that I cannot continue as a columnist for the Mail on Sunday."

Lineker has been writing the weekly column in the Mail on Sunday for six months following the death of Sir Bobby Robson, who wrote previously in that slot. Lineker's long-term agent, Jon Holmes, was severely critical of the paper, saying that he and Lineker had quickly formed the view that Lineker should sever his involvement with the paper.

"The story showed crass judgment," Holmes said. "It had dubious journalistic merit, was clearly obtained by entrapment, and was timed to do the maximum damage to the World Cup bid, which Gary and all football fans in this country passionately support. We wanted to make our position clear and to do all we can now to help persuade Fifa that England is the best country to host a great World Cup in 2018."

The newspaper ran on Sunday the comments made by Triesman, 66, during a private dinner with a friend, Melissa Jacobs, 37, who, unknown to him, was recording it. She then sold her story to the Mail on Sunday, which is understood to have paid £75,000 for it, with the publicist Max Clifford representing Jacobs.

Triesman's remarks, particularly his casual claim that the Spanish and Russian football authorities are considering bribing referees at this summer's World Cup, led to his resignation. In his statement, he complained of "entrapment" by the Mail on Sunday.

The 2018 bid team, fresh from an overwhelmingly positive trip to deliver the bid document to Fifa last week, are now working flat out on a salvage operation. Letters of apology were faxed to Madrid, Moscow and the Fifa offices in Zurich as early as Saturday night, a new bid chairman, Geoff Thompson, was appointed, and now Fifa's ethics committee is investigating the claims and the surrounding circumstances. Fifa's general secretary, Jerome Valcke, said he expected the inquiry to be finished before the World Cup, which starts on 11 June.

Public reaction, gauged by responses to phone-ins and online coverage of the story, including the Mail on Sunday's own website, has been dominated by fury at the newspaper for publishing the secret recording, rather than at Triesman for making the comments. Malcolm Clarke, the chairman of the Football Supporters Federation, said in a joint statement with Supporters Direct: "The Mail on Sunday has grievously endangered the bid with the worst sort of journalism. All involved at the Mail should hang their heads in shame. Many football supporters will think long and hard before buying the Daily Mail or The Mail on Sunday."

After being told of Lineker's decision to cease working with the Mail on Sunday, the 2018 World Cup bid team said in a statement: "We would like to thank Gary for his support which is greatly appreciated. He has been a fantastic ambassador for the bid until now and will continue to be so until the end of the campaign.

"We have had many messages of support over the last few difficult days and are grateful for all of them. It is clear that the public is totally behind both the bid and the England team going to South Africa this summer."

Jacobs is understood to have further comments from Triesman on tape and the Mail on Sunday is considering whether to run them as a second instalment.

In a statement, the paper defended its story on Triesman. "This story concerns very serious allegations of corruption at the highest level of sport, made by the man who was leading the England World Cup bid. The public are clearly entitled to know about such allegations, which are quite rightly now the subject of a FIFA investigation. We would also like to make it clear that Melissa Jacobs put details of her relationship with Lord Triesman on the internet, and made her recording of her conversation with him, without the knowledge or involvement of The Mail on Sunday. There is no question of entrapment, the paper was simply reporting events that had already taken place.

"We made it absolutely clear to Gary Lineker that he could express his views about this story in his column with complete freedom. We regret that he turned down this offer. The Mail on Sunday gives its full support to the England 2018 bid, and notes that many commentators believe its chance of success is as strong as ever."

This article has been updated to reflect the Mail on Sunday's response