ZURICH: The world’s most popular sport was plunged into turmoil on Wednesday as seven powerful soccer figures were arrested on US corruption charges and faced extradition from Switzerland, whose authorities also announced a criminal investigation into the awarding of the next two World Cups.

The arrests of the senior FIFA officials in a morning raid at a five-star Zurich hotel mark an unprecedented blow against soccer’s powerful governing body, which for years has been dogged by allegations of corruption but always escaped major criminal cases.

US prosecutors said they aimed to make more arrests but would not be drawn on whether FIFA President Sepp Blatter, for long the most powerful man in the sport, was a target of the probe.

Mr Blatter, who is standing for re-election to a fifth term at the FIFA Congress in Zurich on Friday, and FIFA said the vote would go ahead as planned.

US authorities said a total of nine soccer officials and five sports media and promotions executives were charged with corruption involving more than $150 million in bribes over a period of 24 years. They said their investigation exposed complex money laundering schemes, millions of dollars in untaxed incomes and tens of millions in offshore accounts held by FIFA officials.

Swiss police arrested the seven FIFA officials and detained them pending extradition proceedings to the United States, which could take years if they contest the process.

“As charged in the indictment, the defendants fostered a culture of corruption and greed that created an uneven playing field for the biggest sport in the world,” said FBI Director James Comey.

“Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks, and bribes became a way of doing business at FIFA.”

Separate from the US investigation, Swiss prosecutors said they had opened their own criminal proceedings against unidentified people on suspicion of mismanagement and money laundering related to the awarding of rights to host the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 event in Qatar.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch told reporters at a news conference in New York her office did not want to impede the 2018 and 2022 World Cups but looked forward to working with Swiss authorities investigating the award of the tournaments.

“FIFA has a lot of soul searching to do,” she said.

Data and documents were seized from computers at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters, the Swiss prosecutors said. Officials said that following the arrests, accounts at several banks in Switzerland had been blocked.

The US Department of Justice named those arrested in Zurich as: Webb, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Eugenio Figueredo, Rafael Esquivel and Jos Maria Marin.

The international governing body of football collects billions of dollars in revenue, mostly from sponsorship and television rights for World Cups. It has been dogged by reports of corruption which it says it investigates itself.

FIFA’s decision to award the World Cup to Qatar, a tiny country with no tradition of soccer, was heavily criticised by soccer officials in Western countries. FIFA was forced to acknowledge that it is too hot to play soccer there in the summer when the tournament is traditionally held, forcing schedules around the globe to be rewritten to move the event.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2015

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