According to leading Japanese business paper Nikkei Asian Review, Sony will move the sponsorship funds towards completing structural reforms. They also claim the company abandoned the idea on the grounds that sponsorship costs could rise.

"We are not commenting on our future relationship with FIFA," a Sony spokesperson said.

The Japanese electronic giant became an official sponsor of the soccer organization in 2005. Since then they sponsored the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, as well as 38 other FIFA tournaments.

Sony would become the second key sponsor to end its deal with FIFA following accusations of corruption in the bidding process for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Sony is following in the footsteps of Emirates airline, which earlier this month decided not to renew its four-year contract with the organization. The Dubai airline's contract was to end in 2014, but they put out a statement saying the decision not to renew was made "following an evaluation of FIFA's contract proposal which did not meet Emirate's expectations."