FIFA peeled back another layer of secrecy this week as football’s governing body revealed for the first time how much money it was paying disgraced former president Sepp Blatter. The former FIFA chief, who was suspended with pay in October 2015 and later banned for unethical conduct, made $3.76 million last year. He did not earn a performance bonus but did pocket almost $450,000 for reaching 40 years of service at FIFA.
As it tries to reclaim tens of millions of dollars pocketed illegally by corrupt former officials, FIFA has admitted for the first time that ExCo members sold their votes to help South Africa secure the 2010 World Cup.
Two weeks before the presidential election, FIFA's top judge bans former secretary general Jerone Valcke for 12 years for misconduct relating to World Cup ticket sales, travel expenses and destruction of evidence.
FIFA has cut off funding to the corruption-hit confederations for football in the Americas, the global football body said on Monday, in a move which could cause future cash flow problems for the two organizations.
Conmebol the South American football confederation rattled by corruption and massive arrests of its former members (except Uruguay's), involved in the major FIFA scandal, has a president, and if nothing happens from here to election day, 26 January, he is Alejandro Domìnguez, (43) a Paraguayan economist, belonging to one of the richest families in the country.
“The FIFA Emergency Committee decided on 9 January 2016 to dismiss Jérôme Valcke from the position of FIFA secretary general with immediate effect. Jérôme Valcke is therefore no longer the secretary general of FIFA,” a FIFA statement said on Wednesday.
Lionel Messi reclaimed the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the world player of the year on Monday, after watching his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo walk off with the prize for the previous two years. The Argentine Barcelona forward finished ahead of Ronaldo and Brazil forward Neymar as he scooped the award for a record fifth time overall, having previously won it four years in a row from 2009 to 2012.
Suspended UEFA chief Michel Platini has withdrawn from the FIFA presidential race as he fights to clear his name following an eight-year ban. Platini was banned by FIFA's ethics judge in December over a “disloyal” $2 million payment he received from Sepp Blatter in 2011. It virtually ended his dreams of succeeding Blatter at the helm of FIFA in the Feb. 26 election.
Swiss authorities have handed over the first round of bank documents seized in their FIFA corruption investigation to U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday. The Federal Office of Justice in Switzerland says the documents relate to “bank accounts allegedly used for bribes connected with the grant of marketing rights to soccer tournaments in Latin America and the USA.”
FIFA has signed its first sponsorship deal since the corruption scandal engulfed world football's governing body. The eight-year agreement with Chinese company Alibaba Group, the world’s largest online and mobile commerce company, is for the Club World Cup spanning 2015 through 2022.