Fifa ‘took bribes for 2010 World Cup’

US prosecutors have accused several officials from football’s governing body Fifa of racketeering, fraud and money laundering involving tens of millions of dollars over 24 years.

Prosecutors said they had discovered a dozen schemes, including one awarding the 2010 World Cup to South Africa.

Fourteen people have been indicted, with seven held in Zurich on Wednesday.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter, who is not among them, issued a statement vowing to kick out corrupt officials.

Fifa also announced a “swift and immediate provisional ban” from football-related activity on 11 of the people involved in the US prosecution.

Fifa says it still intends to hold its presidential election on Friday. Mr Blatter is favoured to win a fifth term.

However, European football body Uefa has called for the election to be postponed and said it would decide on Thursday whether to boycott the congress.

Swiss prosecutors have also opened a separate investigation into the bidding process for the World Cup tournaments in 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar.

‘Over and over’

Those indicted in the US case are accused of accepting bribes and kickbacks estimated at more than $150m (£97m) over a 24-year period beginning in 1991.

Spelling out details of the US case, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said some Fifa executives had “used their positions to solicit bribes. They did this over and over, year after year, tournament after tournament”.

“They corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and to enrich themselves.”

One of the seven arrested in Zurich is Jeffrey Webb, current Fifa vice-president and head of the Concacaf federation that serves North and Central America.

The others arrested were Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Eugenio Figueredo, Rafael Esquivel and Jose Maria Marin.

Six of the seven are contesting extradition to the US, Swiss authorities say.

The seven are among the 11 banned by Fifa. The other four are Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Chuck Blazer and Daryll Warner.

Jack Warner, a former Fifa vice-president, is accused of soliciting $10m in bribes from South Africa’s government over the hosting of the 2010 World Cup.

Mr Warner issued a statement saying he was innocent of any charges.

If convicted on racketeering charges, the defendants could face up to 20 years in prison.

Ms Lynch said the charges included:

• receiving bribes to receive media and marketing rights to football tournaments
• receiving bribes to influence the decision of where tournaments should be hosted – including the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and the 2016 Copa America in the US
• racketeering – organised illegal activity
• money laundering
• wire fraud – or obtaining money by fraudulent means

Ms Lynch said the forthcoming Fifa election had played no part in the timing of the indictments, and that although Fifa had a “lot of soul searching to do”, US law officials were not looking to have “an impact on the decisions” Fifa needed to make in the future. BBC