Glenn Hoddle is likely to face revitalised pressure for him to stand down as England coach following a controversial interview in which he said he believed the disabled were being punished for sins in a former life.

"You and I have been physically given two hands and two legs and half-decent brains," he told the Times newspaper. "Some people have not been born like that for a reason. The karma is working from another lifetime. I have nothing to hide about that. It is not only people with disabilities. What you sow you reap."

The comments, which he says spring from his new-found Christianity, provoked a furious backlash among disabled groups in Britain.

Freda Murray, chairman of the Disabled Supporters' Association, said: "I think he should resign; it is disgusting for a man in his position to be talking like this. I take a boy in a wheelchair and a boy with Down's Syndrome to matches. What are they going to think?"

Agnes Fletcher, parliamentary secretary of the group Radar, which campaigns for the disabled, branded Hoddle's comments as "very medieval".

She said: "I think that that is an extraordinary and very medieval and would not be shared by the majority of Christians. It is really a very arrogant view that is insulting to disabled people.

"A lot of disabled people are very ardent football fans who enjoy the sport very much and will be very sorry to hear these very derogatory comments implying that somehow people are to blame for their disabilities."

Mark Oaten, for the Liberal Democrats, said: "If he really thinks that, he is on another planet."

Roger Berry, secretary of the All Party Disablement Group, echoed the view, saying Hoddle's comments were "totally scandalous and totally outrageous".

He said: "Disabled people have enough to put up with without Glen Hoddle saying things like that. The man is obviously on a different planet.

"Comments like this are going to cause enormous distress and alarm too - and quite rightly so.

"Perhaps if he really feels this way he ought to be with disabled people and discuss it with them face-to-face. In an age when so much is being done to improve the rights of disabled people to hear such views from a public figure is appalling."

A spokeswoman for the British Paralympic Association described the interview as "very unfortunate".

She said: "Our athletes are bound to be shocked and disappointed, indeed angry, at a national sporting icon suggesting such a thing."

John Appleton, a member of the Great Britain cerebral palsy football squad told the Times: "He has got no right talking about disabilities when he is not disabled himself. He happens to have been gifted with an able body and what right has he got to judge other people?"

The English Football Association, however, backed the England coach, saying Hoddle was "an excellent supporter" of disabled sport.

FA spokesman Steve Double said: "We regard him as an excellent supporter of the disabled. He has been involved in many high-profile causes, such as supporting landmine victims, and the not so high-profile causes which he has supported privately."

And a spokesman for the British Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "It is entirely up to the FA to decide on matters such as this. However, the government has made clear its commitment to sport for all, including the disabled."

In response to the growing controversy, Hoddle later released a statement saying: "This is a scandalous and disgraceful interpretation of a football interview. The motive behind it I can only imagine.

"My support and care for disabled people is well- known. I will deal with this matter in my own way.

"What disabled people must know is that they will always have my overwhelming support, care, consideration and dedication.

"Those charities for whom I work privately also know that."

The comments, however, give further ammunition to those who have criticised Hoddle's relationship with the faith-healer Eileen Drewery, whom he drafted in to help the World Cup squad with their preparations.

"Eileen's and my beliefs are very similar," he told the Times. "At some stage in your life there will be something that happens. There will be a void. That is the time you touch into your spirit. God has planted his seed inside you but too many people look outside themselves, to material things."

Although England performed gallantly to go out of last year's World Cup in France on penalties to Argentina, Hoddle forfeited much of the public's sympathy by publishing a book about the campaign in which he spilled the beans about Paul Gascoigne's drink problems.

The coach's contract, which he signed in 1996, is due to run out next year and he has said he will wait to see whether England qualify for the 2000 European Championship before considering an extension to it, which means he has a wait on his hands.

England have beaten only Luxembourg in their first three qualifiers and need to win two awkward home fixtures against Sweden and Poland if they are to go through. They face a severe test of their credentials against the world champions France on February 10th, a match that could conceivably now spell the end for Hoddle.

The danger is that, win or lose.