FIFA’s senior officials arrested for corruption charges

FIFA’s President Sepp Blatter (see photo) has faced a stumbling block to his long reign at the organization because its senior soccer officials close to Mr. Blatter were arrested for corruption charges in the run-up to the FIFA presidential election. The New York Times said on Wednesday that Swiss law enforcement officials arrested FIFA’s leaders who gathered for their annual meeting. It also said that they will be extradited to the United States on federal corruption charges. The FBI has reportedly conducted an investigation into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.

The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said in a press release on Wednesday, “The bribery suspects – representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms – are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries – delegates of FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) and other functionaries of FIFA sub-organizations – totaling more than USD 100 million. In return, it is believed that they received media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America.”

The six arrested officials are the close persons of Mr. Blatter who has served as FIFA’s president for the 17th year since 1998. They are Jeffrey Webb, FIFA vice president and CONCACAF president who is from Cayman Islands, Eugenio Figueredo, FIFA vice president and executive committee member and Uruguayan soccer federation president who is a citizen of Uruguay, Jack Warner, Worawi Makudi, and Eduardo Li who are former and incumbent FIFA executive committee members.

As FIFA’s senior officials are arrested in the run-up to the organization’s general meeting on Saturday, the organization’s presidential election in which Mr. Blatter was highly likely to be re-elected for a fifth term will face an unpredictable future.