FIFA Corruption Scandal: Sponsors May Review Ties over Arrests

FIFA will open its annual congress despite warnings from sponsors that they may review ties over the arrest of seven top officials on corruption charges.

FIFA’s key sponsors have issued statements putting increasing pressure on the soccer governing body over the mounting corruption allegations.

Visa warned that it will reassess its sponsorship unless FIFA makes changes.

Coca-Cola said: “The lengthy controversy has tarnished the mission and ideals of the FIFA World Cup.”

Adidas, McDonald’s and Hyundai Motor also expressed concern and said they were monitoring the situation closely.

The European football body UEFA will decide whether to boycott May 29 vote for the next FIFA president.

Incumbent President Sepp Blatter has yet to appear in public since the arrests.

Sepp Blatter, who is hoping to secure a fifth term at FIFA’s congress in Zurich, was not named in the corruption investigations.

FIFA provisionally banned from football-related activity 11 of the 14 people charged by the US authorities on Wednesday.

They are accused of racketeering, fraud and money laundering, including charges of receiving bribes to influence the outcome of bids to stage football tournaments, such as the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2016 Copa America in the US. South African’s main football body has denied the claim.

Sepp Blatter said on May 27: “Such misconduct has no place in football and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game.”

Swiss prosecutors plan to interview ten FIFA executive committee members as part of a separate investigation into the bidding process for the World Cup tournaments in 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar.

UEFA reacted to the latest events by saying they were “a disaster for FIFA and tarnish the image of football as a whole”.

The European body said Friday’s congress risked becoming a “farce” and that the vote should be postponed.

Those indicted in the US case are accused of accepting bribes and kickbacks estimated at more than $150 million 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”.

The seven arrested in Zurich were vice-presidents Jeffrey Webb and Eugenio Figueredo; Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel and Jose Maria Marin. They face extradition requests from the US.