SAMARA, Russia — The secretary general of FIFA on Wednesday said that he had authorized a $10 million transfer at the heart of a bribery scandal involving soccer’s governing body, but he maintained that he had done nothing wrong.

During a news conference alongside Russia’s sports minister here, the FIFA official, Jérôme Valcke, also said that the 2018 World Cup in Russia “must be protected” and that bidding for the 2026 World Cup would be temporarily suspended because of the upheaval from the corruption allegations.

Mr. Valcke is the “high-ranking FIFA official” who American investigators say transferred $10 million to accounts controlled by a regional soccer official in the Caribbean. On June 1, Mr. Valcke said in an email to The New York Times that not only had he not authorized the payment, but he did not have the power to do so.

FIFA had sought to distance Mr. Valcke from the payment, saying in a statement June 2 that “neither the Secretary General Jérôme Valcke nor any other member of FIFA’s senior management were involved in the initiation, approval and implementation of the above project,” a reference to the soccer development fund in the Caribbean to which the $10 million had been pledged.