ITV give pundit red card over

The broadcaster said a "substantial number" of tickets, which were for Earle's friends and family, had been passed to a "third party".

ITV had investigated how its allocation had been used after governing body Fifa raised concerns generally.

A block of tickets for the Holland-Denmark match had aroused suspicions.

Earle, a former Wimbledon and Port Vale player, also played for Jamaica in the World Cup in 1998.

In a statement, ITV said: "Investigations indicated that a block of ITV tickets would appear to have been used for unauthorised purposes during the Holland v Denmark match.

"Further inquiries have revealed that a substantial number of tickets allocated to Robbie Earle for family and friends have been passed to a third party in breach of Fifa rules. As a result, Robbie Earle's contract with ITV has been terminated with immediate effect." A spokesman for Earle's agent said there was no comment at this stage.

nComplaints about ITV's HD goal bungle in England's opening World Cup game have topped 5,000.

Coverage in the high-definition broadcast of the England v USA game on Saturday was lost for about 20 seconds, meaning viewers missed Steven Gerrard's goal.

The problem was pinned on human error at Technicolor, the firm which provides transmission.