FIFA Responds to Corruption Charges: Takeaways from Walter de Gregorio's Presser
Nick Akerman@Nakerman
Featured ColumnistMay 27, 2015
FIFA spokesman Walter de Gregorio has confirmed the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments will be held in Russia and Qatar, respectively, despite nine FIFA officials being arrested on Wednesday by Swiss authorities. They face extradition to the United States in two separate probes surrounding the competitions.
De Gregorio spoke during Wednesday's press conference, which was called in response to the FIFA officials and five corporate executives being arrested on charges of "racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with the defendants' participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer," per the Department of Justice's official statement.
Sporting Intelligence summarised the two separate investigations:
As tweeted by Martyn Ziegler of the Press Association, De Gregorio doesn't expect the location of the upcoming World Cup tournaments to be altered:
The spokesman said FIFA welcomes authorities stepping in, per Ziegler:
De Gregorio confirmed FIFA President Sepp Blatter isn't involved in the charges, as tweeted by Ziegler:
Matt Apuzzo, Michael S. Schmidt, William K. Rashbaum and Sam Borden of the New York Times named former FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner among those arrested. FIFA officials Jeffrey Webb, Eugenio Figueredo, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, Jose Maria Marin and Nicolas Leoz were also picked up by authorities.
Sky News' Paul Kelso noted those who were arrested remain eligible to participate in Friday's FIFA presidency vote:
De Gregorio confirmed the election will go ahead as planned, per Ziegler:
Blatter is the heavy favourite to land his fifth term as the governing body's chief. Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, his only remaining competitor for the presidency, made his feelings known after Wednesday's developments, as reported by BBC Sport's Dan Roan:
Alongside the aforementioned FIFA officials, sports marketing executives Alejandro Burzaco, Aaron Davidson, Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis were also arrested. Jose Margulies has been charged with facilitating the payments, per the New York Times.
Owen Gibson of the Guardian and Rob Harris of the Associated Press provided further comment from FIFA's presser:
Ziegler confirmed the U.S. investigation has already received guilty pleas, but, as noted by Borden, further evidence will be gathered:
Borden said De Gregorio used the press conference to put a positive spin on a damaging day for FIFA:
The lack of transparency surrounding FIFA's operations has remained a discussion point for years, so Wednesday's proceedings appear to finally be addressing problems that have littered football's recent era.
While it appears the upcoming World Cup tournaments remain unaffected, Friday's presidential vote and the future of FIFA could be significantly impacted by the latest developments.