Soccer’s powerful, polarizing governing body found itself on the defensive on two fronts Wednesday, one a Swiss investigation into World Cup bidding and the other a sweeping, stinging U.S. indictment homing in on what America’s top justice official called “corruption that is rampant, systemic and deep-rooted.”
Swiss authorities raided FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich on Wednesday, the same day they announced an investigation into the last two awarded World Cup bids—to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022 — both of which had come under fire.
But the day’s more definitive and, right now, damning action came out of the United States.
That’s where the Department of Justice announced the unsealing of a 47-count indictment in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, that detailed charges against 14 people of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. They include FIFA officials accused of taking bribes totaling more than $150 million and in return provided “lucrative media and marketing rights” to soccer tournaments as kickbacks over the past 24 years.
“The defendants fostered a culture of corruption and greed that created an uneven playing field for the biggest sport in the world,” FBI Director James Comey said in a news release. “Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks and bribes became a way of doing business at FIFA.”
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Six people were arrested Wednesday in Zurich with help from Swiss authorities, among them Jeffrey Webb, a FIFA vice president and head of CONCACAF, the FIFA-affiliated governing body for North America and the Caribbean.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter's 2011 remarks on racism in football—that on-pitch abuse can be solved with a handshake—were just one of a series of controversial quotes to be attributed to the head of world soccer.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter is not among those arrested or charged by U.S. authorities. But he was among those investigated, and officials say that part of the probe continues.
The cloud of alleged wrongdoing won’t change Blatter’s plans to travel to Canada, which has an extradition agreement with the United States, said FIFA spokesman Walter De Gregorio.
Nor will it affect executives from soccer’s scandal-plagued governing body from gathering Friday to possibly elect Blatter to a fifth term—despite questions raised by Greg Dyke, the head of Britain’s Football Association, in light of Wednesday’s developments.
The plans for future World Cups in Russia and Qatar, which has been dogged by criticism for its treatment of foreign workers rushing to build stadiums, are still on as well, De Gregorio said.
The FIFA spokesman scarcely mentioned the U.S. indictment in a news conference Wednesday, though he did try to put a positive spin at least on the Swiss investigation.
“This for FIFA is good,” De Gregorio said. “It is not good in terms of image, and it’s not good in terms of reputation, but in terms of cleaning up, in terms of everything what we did in the last four years.”
This assessment was shared by others around the globe, albeit for different reasons. They include those, like English football legend Gary Lineker, who have long ripped FIFA as a self-serving, corrupt organization.
– CNN
