What has happened?
Fifa, the world governing body of football, has been plunged into crisis after a number of its top officials were arrested at a hotel in Switzerland on suspicion of receiving bribes totalling $100m (£65m). The dawn arrests in Zurich, where the organisation is based, came hours before Swiss prosecutors announced a criminal investigation into the 2018 and 2022 football World Cup bids. Fifa - the International Federation of Association Football - is in charge of organising football’s major tournaments, including the World Cup, which takes place every four years.
Who was arrested?
Nine Fifa officials and four executives of sports management companies were arrested, according to the US Department of Justice. The suspects were named as:
- Jack Warner, the former Fifa vice-president
- Jeffrey Webb, current Fifa vice-president and president of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf)
- Eugenio Figueredo, current Fifa vice-president and executive committee member
- Eduardo Li, current Fifa executive committee member-elect
- Julio Rocha, current Fifa development officer
- Rafael Esquivel, president of the Venezuelan Football Federation
- José Maria Marin, ex-president of the Brazilian Football Confederation
- Costas Takkas, current attaché to the Concacaf president Jeffrey Webb
According to the US Department of Justice, the sports marketing executives arrested were: Alejandro Burzaco, the controlling pincipal of Argentinian sports marketing firm Torneos y Competencias S.A; Aaron Davidson, president of Traffic Sports USA; Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, controlling principals of Argentinian sports marketing firm Full Play Group S.A.
Was Fifa president Sepp Blatter arrested?
No. Fifa spokesman Walter de Gregorio told the Associated Press: “He is not involved at all.” Blatter’s Twitter account, which recently celebrated Fifa’s 111th birthday, has remained silent on the arrests.
What do the charges involve?
The Fifa officials are accused of pocketing well over $150m in bribes in “brazen corruption” stretching back 24 years. US prosecutors said the football officials conspired with sports marketing executives to “shut out competitors and keep highly lucrative contracts for themselves through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks”.
Could Russia and Qatar be stripped of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups?
No country has ever been stripped of a World Cup, so this is without precedent. Such a move would be mired in legal complexities, with both Qatar and Russia likely to aggressively challenge any decision to strip them of the tournament on which both countries have already spent vast sums.
However, it is equally likely that members of the rival bids – including Australia and the US for the 2022 World Cup, and Portugal and Spain for 2018 – will be looking closely at the details of Wednesday’s extraordinary developments with a view to applying for the bidding process to be reopened.
Both World Cups have been mired in controversy since they were awarded on 2 December 2010. Yet Sepp Blatter has been adamant that nothing would derail either tournament, declaring as recently as last week after meeting Russian president Vladimir Putin that “nothing will get in the way of Russia hosting the best ever World Cup”. As he spoke, the FBI and Swiss police were preparing to make arrests that would throw the future of both World Cups into grave doubt.
Why were the arrests made now?
Swiss police appear to have timed the arrests to occur before Fifa’s annual general meeting on Friday, when they knew that a significant number of their suspects would be in the same city. Not just the same city, but the same hotel. The raid on the Baur au Lac, a luxury hotel with views overlooking the Alps, has long been favouredby Fifa officials visiting Zurich.
Why are US authorities investigating Fifa?
The US attorney general is due to hold a press conference on Wednesday when more details will become clear. However, the FBI has been investigating the process that led to the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals to Russia and Qatar respectively. News of the FBI investigation emerged in March 2013 with further details reported in November last year. It was reported that Chuck Blazer, a former Fifa executive committee member, was cooperating with the inquiry after he was approached over huge unpaid tax bills related to commissions he had received during his time as Concacaf general secretary.
Who is Chuck Blazer?
Chuck Blazer is a former Fifa executive committee member. Days before he was due to stand down in May 2013, he was suspended from football for 90 days by Fifa amid allegations that he fraudulently received more than $20m from Concacaf.
The 70-year-old football chief has also held senior posts in America and is credited with turning the sport into a booming success in the US. And while US soccer’s fortunes flourished, so did Blazer’s. He earned the nickname Mr Ten Percent after reportedly negotiating an extraordinary contract with Concacaf that entitled him to 10% of just about every penny the body brought in. His colourful jet-set lifestyle matched his exuberance, and when he wasn’t living in his $18,000-a-month Manhattan apartment, he was probably relaxing at his luxury condo in the Bahamas.
Last November it emerged that Blazer was cooperating with a US investigation into Fifa. Investigators were said to have approached Blazer in 2011 after allegedly discovering huge unpaid tax bills related to commissions he had received during his time as Concacaf general secretary. The New York Daily News, which broke the story in November 2014, reported that Blazer had secretly recorded Fifa executives for US investigators using a keychain fitted with a covert recording device.