Fifa Corruption

[baa99]

Is this the tip of the iceberg?

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/27/fifa-corruption-arrests-key-questions-answered

 

Some of the top officials at Fifa – the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the governing body of world football – have been arrested at a hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, on suspicion of receiving bribes totalling $100m (£65m). They were arrested before Fifa’s annual general meeting on Friday in an early-morning raid by Swiss police, acting on a request from the US authorities. The officials are all facing extradition to the US.

[Flashermac]

How is the US involved in this? Why are they investigation something that happened in Europe? I must be missing something.

[waerth]

They rejected the US world cup bid. US officials then blamed bribes for loosing the bid. Shouldnt this be in sports btw?

[baa99]

It isn't a sport. It's soccer!

[Flashermac]

It isn't about sports. It's about crime. (Although both do pay well.)

[waerth]

no its football. that other sport is mistakenly renamed football as it is just ..... catch the ball and walk with it for 4 seconds and than a 10 minute time out as the pantsies got tired and has a world cup in which only 1 countries teams participate .....

[pasathai1]

its all about money, the supposed "sport" fled the scene long ago.

[Mekong]

How is the US involved in this? Why are they investigation something that happened in Europe? I must be missing something.

 

It offences didn't happen in Europe UEFA Union of European Football Associations whereas FIFA is Federation International Football Associations.

 

FIFA is made up of

 

AFC Asian Football Confederation

CAF Confederation of African Football

CONCACAF Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football

CONEMBOL Confederation Sudamericana de Futbol

OFC Oceania Football Confederation

UEFA Union of European Football Associations

 

 

It has been known for years that corruption within FIFA amongst the smaller confederations has been going on and it just so happened that the FIFA Presidential Elections are taking place in Switzerland this week. Those arrested face Federal corruption charges so better to wait until all the crooks are gathered under one roof then execute the arrest warrants.

 

I was under the impression that the warrants were executed by the Swiss authorities and the accused are now being held awaiting extradition to the States.

[Flashermac]

"The IFAF World Championship of American Football (also known as the IFAF World Cup) is an international American football competition held every four years and contested by teams representing member nations. ..."

 

"The defending champions are the United States, who won the 2011 championship after winning the 2007 cup in their first appearance. Japan won the 1999 and 2003 championships. The championship was held in Italy in 1999, in Germany in 2003, in Kawasaki, Japan in 2007, and in Austria in 2011. The 2015 IFAF World Championship was originally going to be held in Stockholm, Sweden, however local organizers had to cancel the event due to lack of sponsorship. The 2015 tournament is currently scheduled to take place in Canton, Ohio."

 

http://en.wikipedia....ld_Championship

 

 

 

p.s. American football "evolved" from Rugby. That explains the passing and hand offs (though I think rugby is a far more interesting sport).

[waerth]

Ah a Dutch newspaper article I read sheds more light:

 

"Ze hebben de bankfaciliteiten in de VS gebruikt voor hun smeergeldbetalingen"

They have used banking facilities in the US to pay their bribes.

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/4562/Voetbal/article/detail/4041223/2015/05/27/FBI-geeft-FIFA-rode-kaart-Fraude-bij-toewijzing-WK-2010-en-verkiezing-Blatter.dhtml

 

So there is the US angle.