England soccer coach Glenn Hoddle was under mounting pressure to quit last night, as outrage grew over his suggestion that people born with disabilities were being punished for the sins of a former life.

Having earlier misjudged the public mood and said they were standing by their man, English soccer chiefs said the 41-year-old coach would be questioned about his controversial religious beliefs and why he had made them public.

But by that point he was already deluged in condemnation from politicians, disability groups and Churchmen - with ministers leading calls for him to step-down. The clamour for his head grew after Sunday newspaper revelations that, far from being misquoted or misunderstood, Hoddle had expressed similar views before.

On Saturday afternoon Hoddle issued a strongly worded statement condemning what he called "a scandalous and disgraceful interpretation of a football interview" which had appeared in that morning's London Times. The newspaper stood by its account of the interview, in which Hoddle was asked about his views on reincarnation.

He said: "You and I have been physically given two hands and two legs and a half decent brain. 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 have to reap. You have to look at things that happened in your life and ask why. It comes around."

In a swift damage-limitation exercise Hoddle appeared on television, citing his own work for disabled causes, and insisting the interview had been "turned completely on its head."

However, yesterday's Observer revealed that Hoddle had expressed similar views in a previously unpublicised interview for Radio 5's sport-show, Brian Alexander's Sportsweek, a tape of which had been obtained by the paper.

Hoddle is quoted as saying: "I have got an inner belief and an inner faith with God. I do believe spiritually we have to progress because we've been here before. The physical body is just an overcoat for your spirit. At death you take the overcoat off and your spirit will go to another life in a spirit dimension."

He goes on: "I think we make mistakes when we are down here and our spirit has to come back and learn. That's why there is an injustice in the world. Why there's certain people born into the world with terrible physical problems and why there's a family who has got everything right, physically and mentally."

To compound Hoddle's embarrassment, his faith healer and spiritual mentor Eileen Drewery told the Sunday Telegraph: "Let's say that you were in a fight and you broke someone's back, then possibly you would suffer for your actions in your next life. Reincarnation is a belief I hold and it may be something that is important to Glenn."

Margaret Hodge, minister with responsibility for disabled people, said it would be "inappropriate" for Hoddle to retain his post. "Those were not remarks off the cuff made once. We learn that he has held similar views and expressed them in the past," she said.