President Michel Platini says a payment to him being looked into by Swiss authorities was for work carried out under contract at FIFA. FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been questioned by Swiss federal police over alleged financial corruption. The attorney general's office in Switzerland said it has opened criminal proceedings against Blatter over possible criminal mismanagement and misappropriation of FIFA money.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has been put on leave and released from his duties until further notice. A Fifa statement said it had been made aware of a series of allegations involving the secretary general.
United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch won’t say if outgoing president Sepp Blatter is a target of an expanding probe into FIFA corruption, but anticipated she expects more charges against individuals and entities.
With FIFA reeling from the most damaging corruption crisis in its 111-year history, (14 FIFA officials and marketing executives were indicted by US justice authorities in May over a $150 million bribery scandal), Sepp Blatter denied that FIFA was corrupt to the core.
Honorary FIFA vice president Chung Mong-Joon says he will clean the sport of football if elected president of FIFA. Chung blames the previous president Sepp Blatter for the recent corruption scandals which have cast shadows over the sport and its organizing body.
The former chairman of an Argentina-based sports marketing business, one of 14 people indicted in a corruption case that has rattled the soccer world's governing body FIFA, pleaded not guilty in US federal court on Friday.
Michel Platini launched his bid to replace Sepp Blatter at the helm of world football, pledging to give FIFA back the dignity and the position it deserves.
On Wednesday he sent a letter to the leaders of FIFA's 209 member associations, some of whom he canvassed for their support at the 2018 World Cup draw in St Petersburg last Saturday.
FIFA has admitted the corruption scandal is putting off new World Cup sponsors and plans to hold a summit with existing backers in August. Secretary-general Jerome Valcke said: The current situation doesn't help to finalize any new agreements.
A British comedian disrupted a news conference by Sepp Blatter on Monday, showering the FIFA president with fake money. As Blatter took his seat, performer Simon Brodkin rose from a front-row seat to confront him.
Comparing FIFA to the mafia is almost insulting to the mafia, a US senator said, turning up the heat on football's corruption-tainted world governing body to reform. Richard Blumenthal made the remark at a Senate subcommittee hearing scrutinizing FIFA, after US authorities in May indicted 14 people - including top football officials over tens of millions of dollars of alleged bribes for media rights contracts.