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If you are not a member of the FIFA.com Club, please register first. Log-in unsuccessful All Videos What we stand for FIFA’s mission is develop football everywhere and for all, to touch the world through its inspiring tournaments and to build a better future through the power of the game. Explore FIFA is a series of short animated films that bring you into our world with a visual and easy-to-understand explanation of how we go about carrying out this mission. About FIFA Who We Are The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is an association governed by Swiss law founded in 1904 and based in Zurich. It has 211 member associations and its goal, enshrined in its Statutes, is the constant improvement of football. Who We Are FIFA 1904 FIFA 1904 is a monthly magazine which is published as both a print edition and as a free online publication. The 68-page magazine contains in-depth stories and interviews about football from around the world, with a special focus on FIFA's development projects and activities, competitions, events and member associations.

The print version is provided for free to FIFA's confederations and member associations, while the online version is available to all football fans right here on FIFA.com. Latest Media Releases The President Before being elected FIFA President, Gianni Infantino was the UEFA General Secretary since October 2009, having joined the organisation in 2000. Gianni led the fight against social ills and threats to the integrity of football in Europe, including all forms of discrimination, violence and hooliganism, and match-fixing. The President FIFA Secretary General In a humanitarian career with the United Nations that spanned 21-years, Fatma Samoura has been able to make a difference to millions of people through her work. On 20 June 2016, she began her first day in office as the first-ever female Secretary General of world football’s governing body. FIFA Secretary General FIFA Congress Bringing together every member association of FIFA, with each getting one vote, a Congress may be an Ordinary or an Extraordinary Congress. The Congress rules on modifications to the Statutes, addresses propositions from FIFA Council members and elects the FIFA President.

Latest News FIFA Associations and Confederations With 211 associations affiliated to FIFA today, world football's governing body has been dubbed the "United Nations of Football ". Between 1975 and 2002 alone, more than 60 associations were accepted as members. FIFA supports the associations financially and logistically through various programmes and grants them a number of attractive rights and privileges. But they also have obligations. As representatives of FIFA in their countries, they must respect the statutes, aims and ideals of football's governing body and promote and manage our sport accordingly. Committees and other bodies FIFA Council and Bureau of the Council The FIFA Council is a non-executive, supervisory and strategic body that sets the vision for FIFA and global football. FIFA: What's the deal with world governing body? - CNN.com 1 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures The 79-year-old Swiss has dominated the world's most popular sport over this 17-year period, although his reign not been without controversy.

Hide Caption 2 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures Blatter faced a criminal investigation after winning the 2002 FIFA presidential election, being accused of financial mismanagement by 11 former members of the ruling body's executive committee, including his 1998 election rival Lennart Johansson. However, prosecutors dropped the case due to a lack of evidence. Hide Caption 3 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures In 2004, Blatter angered female footballers with his suggestion for how the women's game could be made more appealing. "They could, for example, have tighter shorts," said the Swiss. "Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball." Hide Caption 4 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures In 2008 Blatter was ridiculed after defending the desire of Manchester United's highly-paid star Cristiano Ronaldo to join Real Madrid.

He said: "I think in football there's too much modern slavery in transferring players or buying players here and there, and putting them somewhere." In 2013 he had to apologize to Ronaldo after a bizarre impersonation of the Madrid star. Hide Caption 5 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures Blatter performed a U-turn on the use of goal-line technology and apologized to the English Football Association after an incorrect decision during the 2010 World Cup. Despite replays showing a shot from England's Frank Lampard had clearly crossed the line in the last-16 clash with Germany, the goal was not awarded.

Hide Caption 6 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures In 2010, when England captain John Terry, who is married, was reported to have been involved with the partner of his former Chelsea teammate Wayne Bridge, Blatter responded: "If this had happened in, let's say, Latin countries then I think he would have been applauded." Hide Caption 7 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures In December 2010, Blatter was heavily criticized for suggesting gay football fans should "refrain from sexual activity" if they wished to attend the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal. Blatter later apologized and said it had not been his intention to offend or discriminate. Hide Caption 8 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures In December 2010 Blatter insisted that FIFA was "not corrupt ...

there are no rotten eggs" despite two of his executive committee members -- Amos Adamu, pictured, and Reynald Temarii -- being suspended for accepting bribes in the lead-up to the vote for awarding hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. He called England "bad losers" after losing out to Russia. Hide Caption 9 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures A Manchester City fan displays a banner with a message for FIFA President Sepp Blatter regarding his handling of allegations of racism in football in 2011. Blatter had earlier suggested that incidents of racism on the pitch could be sorted out with a handshake when a game finished. Hide Caption 10 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures In January 2013, AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng led his team off the pitch after being subjected to racist chanting. His actions were hailed across the world. But Blatter was more cautious about the issue, refusing to support the move.

"I don't think you can run away, because eventually you can run away if you lose a match," he said in an interview with a newspaper in the UAE. "This issue is a very touchy subject, but I repeat there is zero tolerance of racism in the stadium; we have to go against that." Others, like AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi, have disagreed with him. "I am of the opposite view (to Blatter)," said Berlusconi. "I thanked and congratulated my players for their decision to leave the field." Hide Caption 11 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures While Blatter has overseen the first World Cups in Africa and Asia -- South Africa in 2010 and Japan and South Korea in 2002 -- he has also presided over a decline in the public's perception of FIFA. Corruption allegations surrounded the bidding process relating to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively.

Hide Caption 12 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures FIFA has also been heavily criticized for the employment conditions of workers building stadiums and infrastructure in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. In early May 2015, Amnesty International released a report stating that FIFA was failing to demonstrate any sort of commitment to ensuring Qatar 2022 is "not built on a foundation of exploitation and abuse." Hide Caption 13 of 14 Photos: Sepp Blatter - key moments in pictures Blatter is currently seeking another term at the head of FIFA. His only challenger is FIFA Vice-President Prince Ali bin al-Hussein from Jordan (right) although Blatter is widely expected to win. Hide Caption How FIFA became the world’s most powerful and loathed sports organization - The Washington Post How FIFA became the world’s most powerful and loathed sports organization The inside track on Washington politics. Be the first to know about new stories from PowerPost. Sign up to follow, and we’ll e-mail you free updates as they’re published. You’ll receive free e-mail news updates each time a new story is published. You’re all set!

By Ishaan Tharoor By Ishaan Tharoor May 27, 2015 Follow @ishaantharoor This June 1, 2011, photo shows Swiss FIFA President Sepp Blatter during a news conference in Zurich. (Michael Probst/AP) For many, the arrest of seven top officials at FIFA , soccer's global governing body, on U.S. federal corruption charges was a long time coming. The world may love the beautiful game more than any other, but the sport's main administrative organization is widely perceived as being bloated and rapacious. Its head, FIFA President Sepp Blatter — who was not among those arrested — rules like a sovereign monarch, undeterred by hostile public opinion . Here's what you need to know about FIFA's enormous power and its terrible reputation. What is FIFA? In 1904, the Federation Internationale de Football Association was founded by a group of Frenchmen seeking to form an umbrella organization for the sport's various national bodies. Like a lot of international organizations, it was initially a European club and slowly expanded to other corners of the globe. Its mission throughout has been to help support the development of the game and organize international competitions.

FIFA also gives guidance on the rules and management of the sport. Early on, rivalry with the International Olympic Committee eventually led to FIFA holding its first World Cup — in Uruguay in 1930. The tournament was small, invitation only, and barely discussed in Britain, the birthplace of the sport. That soon changed. The epic tournaments now staged under FIFA's aegis every four years are the most anticipated and watched events on the planet — and a huge, money-spinning bonanza for FIFA itself. The World Cup, argues British soccer historian David Goldblatt , is perhaps one of the greatest "occasions during which humanity can be an imagined community," united by the fits and starts of 22 men in shorts chasing after a ball. The 1998 World Cup in France, for example, had a mind-boggling cumulative audience of 37 billion people . [ 20 World Cup goals that changed history .] How does FIFA work? What began as a genteel, voluntary club now functions like a pantomime United Nations — indeed, there are more FIFA member associations than member states in the U.N. General Assembly.

It has its own dreamy, utopian rhetoric of international equality, prosperity and development, to boot. Here is a FIFA video on how the institution works: Six regional confederations — roughly the world's continents — feed into the overall organization of the game. The FIFA Congress, comprised of delegates from around the world, elects the organization's president in elections held at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. The president and the heads of regional confederations are part of FIFA's executive committee, the organization's main decision-making body. It's this committee that votes on which country gets to host the World Cup. So what's the problem? The advent of television and marketing rights, the commercialization of everything, and the unprecedented global obsession with soccer all spurred FIFA's evolution from a tiny, amateur operation into a multibillion-dollar industry. FIFA gets to be the guardian of world soccer on trust, and therefore has to do very little to see its own coffers swell. It places much of the financial burden of staging the World Cup on the host country — last year's tournament in Brazil prompted mass protests by Brazilians furious that vast sums of taxpayer money were being spent on stadiums rather than much-needed infrastructure, hospitals and schools.

Yet FIFA, which as a technically nonprofit institution pays few taxes, raked in an estimated $4 billion from the 2014 World Cup, mostly from TV deals and corporate partnerships. (That money is meant to trickle down — FIFA claims it spends $550,000 on worldwide soccer development every day.) This set-up is a breeding ground for the "rampant, systemic and deep-rooted" corruption cited by U.S. authorities Wednesday, as well as what fuels the elaborate networks of patronage that link the sport's top administrators with officials in national soccer associations. The individuals arrested are accused of taking bribes and kickbacks from various private firms in the bidding for lucrative soccer-related contracts, which include deals tied to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Allegations of bribery still surround FIFA's decision to award Russia and Qatar the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively. The Qatar bid, in particular, drew a furious backlash, with critics pointing to the tiny Persian Gulf emirate's appalling record on workers' rights and its muzzling of press freedoms .

The Post's Marissa Payne details the charges facing nine FIFA officials in a round of indictments from the U.S., and delves into why FIFA's president Sepp Blatter is not facing charges. (Editor's note: This video reports that Jeffrey Webb is FIFA's vice president. FIFA has more than one vice president.) (Nicki DeMarco and Marissa Payne/The Washington Post) Does this mean FIFA will change? Probably not, at least if it's left to its own devices. FIFA has already indicated that the status of Russia and Qatar's World Cup bids are not in question. Last year, it issued a report clearing itself of any wrongdoing in the bidding process, though a lawyer who was part of the investigation subsequently claimed that the report "contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations." The ability of FIFA as an institution to shake off criticism is best embodied by Blatter himself, a man variously described as "the dark prince of football" and "the most successful non-homicidal dictator of the past century," as my colleague Cindy Boren notes . Before the arrests, Blatter was poised to comfortably win reelection this week to another term as FIFA president.

In 2011, his chief rival, Mohammad bin Hammam, saw a promising election campaign derailed by corruption allegations. Blatter emerged unscathed. He has held the top post since 1998. It's unclear how much deeper the U.S. and Swiss-led investigations may go, and to what extent they may shake up FIFA's governance structure or spur boycotts or wider protests against FIFA. "Soccer’s leaders survive in part because until very recently, the world has lived under the illusion that soccer is not a matter for politics and thus for serious public debate," wrote Goldblatt, the soccer historian, in 2011. "They are wrong. No practice is more global than soccer." The resulting investigations into FIFA's corruptions may well prove that. Related on WorldViews What is FIFA? (with pictures) Law What is FIFA? Last Modified Date: 26 December 2016 Copyright Protected: These 10 facts about space will blow your mind FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) is the international governing association of the sport of football, known as soccer in the United States. In fact, it is the largest sporting governing body in the world.

Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, this organization is accountable for management of the major international football tournaments, the most notable being the FIFA World Cup™. The World Cup™, held every four years, is a competition between men's teams representing various nations. Over 200 associations are members of the organization, making it the world's second largest international association, with the United Nations being the largest. The need for a single association to oversee the worldwide game prompted the founding of FIFA in Paris on 21 May 1904. Original membership belonged to seven European countries, though within several years membership began to expand beyond the European continent. The first non-European country to join was South Africa, in 1909, followed by Argentina, Chile, and the United States in subsequent years. Following the success of the competitions and the rising popularity of football, FIFA began seriously contemplating the staging of its own regular World Championship. The first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930. The next World Cup was held thereafter in Italy in 1934. This organization not only operates at the international level, but it also has confederations governing the game in the different continents and regions of the world.

Most national federations qualify their teams for entry into FIFA competitions by claiming membership to both FIFA and their region's confederation. In addition to its management of the World Cup and involvement in Olympic competitions, FIFA also manages World Championships for players at the under-17 and under-20 levels. It has also introduced the Confederations Cup, a competition held every four years for the champions from each confederation along with the World hosts and World Cup Winners. It also presides over World Cup tournaments geared specifically toward women, club competition, and modified forms of football including beach football and futsal or indoor football. The intellectual property value, including merchandising profits, of this association has become very valuable. Football simulation games for the personal computer and other game consoles are released annually, with additional versions sporting World Cup branding to correspond with the tournaments.

Ad Nine FIFA Officials and Five Corporate Executives Indicted for Racketeering Conspiracy and Corruption | OPA | Department of Justice Wednesday, May 27, 2015 Nine FIFA Officials and Five Corporate Executives Indicted for Racketeering Conspiracy and Corruption The Defendants Include Two Current FIFA Vice Presidents and the Current and Former Presidents of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF); Seven Defendants Arrested Overseas; Guilty Pleas for Four Individual Defendants and Two Corporate Defendants Also Unsealed A 47-count indictment was unsealed early this morning in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging 14 defendants with 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. The guilty pleas of four individual defendants and two corporate defendants were also unsealed today. The defendants charged in the indictment include high-ranking officials of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the organization responsible for the regulation and promotion of soccer worldwide, as well as leading officials of other soccer governing bodies that operate under the FIFA umbrella.

Jeffrey Webb and Jack Warner – the current and former presidents of CONCACAF, the continental confederation under FIFA headquartered in the United States – are among the soccer officials charged with racketeering and bribery offenses. The defendants also include U.S. and South American sports marketing executives who are alleged to have systematically paid and agreed to pay well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments. The charges were announced by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly T. Currie of the Eastern District of New York, Director James B. Comey of the FBI, Assistant Director in Charge Diego W. Rodriguez of the FBI’s New York Field Office, Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and Special Agent in Charge Erick Martinez of the IRS-CI’s Los Angeles Field Office. Also earlier this morning, Swiss authorities in Zurich arrested seven of the defendants charged in the indictment, the defendants Jeffrey Webb, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Eugenio Figueredo, Rafael Esquivel and José Maria Marin, at the request of the United States.

Also this morning, a search warrant is being executed at CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, Florida. The guilty pleas of the four individual and two corporate defendants that were also unsealed today include the guilty pleas of Charles Blazer, the long-serving former general secretary of CONCACAF and former U.S. representative on the FIFA executive committee; José Hawilla, the owner and founder of the Traffic Group, a multinational sports marketing conglomerate headquartered in Brazil; and two of Hawilla’s companies, Traffic Sports International Inc. and Traffic Sports USA Inc., which is based in Florida. “The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” said Attorney General Lynch. “It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. And it has profoundly harmed a multitude of victims, from the youth leagues and developing countries that should benefit from the revenue generated by the commercial rights these organizations hold, to the fans at home and throughout the world whose support for the game makes those rights valuable.

Today’s action makes clear that this Department of Justice intends to end any such corrupt practices, to root out misconduct, and to bring wrongdoers to justice – and we look forward to continuing to work with other countries in this effort.” Attorney General Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the authorities of the government of Switzerland, as well as several other international partners, for their outstanding assistance in this investigation. “Today’s announcement should send a message that enough is enough,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Currie. “After decades of what the indictment alleges to be brazen corruption, organized international soccer needs a new start – a new chance for its governing institutions to provide honest oversight and support of a sport that is beloved across the world, increasingly so here in the United States. Let me be clear: this indictment is not the final chapter in our investigation.” Acting U.S. Attorney Currie extended his thanks to the agents, analysts and other investigative personnel with the FBI New York Eurasian Joint Organized Crime Squad and the IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office, as well as their colleagues abroad, for their tremendous effort in this case.

“As charged in the indictment, the defendants fostered a culture of corruption and greed that created an uneven playing field for the biggest sport in the world,” said Director Comey. “Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks, and bribes became a way of doing business at FIFA. I want to commend the investigators and prosecutors around the world who have pursued this case so diligently, for so many years.” “When leaders in an organization resort to cheating the very members that they are supposed to represent, they must be held accountable,” said Chief Weber. “Corruption, tax evasion and money laundering are certainly not the cornerstones of any successful business. Whether you call it soccer or football, the fans, players and sponsors around the world who love this game should not have to worry about officials corrupting their sport. This case isn't about soccer, it is about fairness and following the law. IRS-CI will continue to investigate financial crimes and follow the money wherever it may lead around the world, leveling the playing field for those who obey the law.” The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The Enterprise FIFA is composed of 209 member associations, each representing organized soccer in a particular nation or territory, including the United States and four of its overseas territories. FIFA also recognizes six continental confederations that assist it in governing soccer in different regions of the world. The U.S. Soccer Federation is one of 41 member associations of the confederation known as CONCACAF, which has been headquartered in the United States throughout the period charged in the indictment. The South American confederation, called CONMEBOL, is also a focus of the indictment. As alleged in the indictment, FIFA and its six continental confederations, together with affiliated regional federations, national member associations and sports marketing companies, constitute an enterprise of legal entities associated in fact for purposes of the federal racketeering laws. The principal – and entirely legitimate – purpose of the enterprise is to regulate and promote the sport of soccer worldwide. As alleged in the indictment, one key way the enterprise derives revenue is to commercialize the media and marketing rights associated with soccer events and tournaments.

The organizing entity that owns those rights – as FIFA and CONCACAF do with respect to the World Cup and Gold Cup, their respective flagship tournaments – sells them to sports marketing companies, often through multi-year contracts covering multiple editions of the tournaments. The sports marketing companies, in turn, sell the rights downstream to TV and radio broadcast networks, major corporate sponsors and other sub-licensees who want to broadcast the matches or promote their brands. The revenue generated from these contracts is substantial: according to FIFA, 70% of its $5.7 billion in total revenues between 2011 and 2014 was attributable to the sale of TV and marketing rights to the 2014 World Cup. The Racketeering Conspiracy The indictment alleges that, between 1991 and the present, the defendants and their co-conspirators corrupted the enterprise by engaging in various criminal activities, including fraud, bribery and money laundering. Two generations of soccer officials abused their positions of trust for personal gain, frequently through an alliance with unscrupulous sports marketing executives who shut out competitors and kept highly lucrative contracts for themselves through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks.

All told, the soccer officials are charged with conspiring to solicit and receive well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for their official support of the sports marketing executives who agreed to make the unlawful payments. Most of the schemes alleged in the indictment relate to the solicitation and receipt of bribes and kickbacks by soccer officials from sports marketing executives in connection with the commercialization of the media and marketing rights associated with various soccer matches and tournaments, including FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the CONCACAF region, the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the CONCACAF Champions League, the jointly organized CONMEBOL/CONCACAF Copa América Centenario, the CONMEBOL Copa América, the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores and the Copa do Brasil, which is organized by the Brazilian national soccer federation (CBF). Other alleged schemes relate to the payment and receipt of bribes and kickbacks in connection with the sponsorship of CBF by a major U.S. sportswear company, the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 FIFA presidential election.

The Indicted Defendants As set forth in the indictment, the defendants and their co-conspirators fall generally into three categories: soccer officials acting in a fiduciary capacity within FIFA and one or more of its constituent organizations; sports media and marketing company executives; and businessmen, bankers and other trusted intermediaries who laundered illicit payments. Nine of the defendants were FIFA officials by operation of the FIFA statutes, as well as officials of one or more other bodies: Jeffrey Webb: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member, CONCACAF president, Caribbean Football Union (CFU) executive committee member and Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) president. Eduardo Li: Current FIFA executive committee member-elect, CONCACAF executive committee member and Costa Rican soccer federation (FEDEFUT) president. Julio Rocha: Current FIFA development officer. Former Central American Football Union (UNCAF) president and Nicaraguan soccer federation (FENIFUT) president. Costas Takkas: Current attaché to the CONCACAF president. Former CIFA general secretary. Jack Warner: Former FIFA vice president and executive committee member, CONCACAF president, CFU president and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) special adviser.

Eugenio Figueredo: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member. Former CONMEBOL president and Uruguayan soccer federation (AUF) president. Rafael Esquivel: Current CONMEBOL executive committee member and Venezuelan soccer federation (FVF) president. José Maria Marin: Current member of the FIFA organizing committee for the Olympic football tournaments. Former CBF president. Nicolás Leoz: Former FIFA executive committee member and CONMEBOL president. Four of the defendants were sports marketing executives: Alejandro Burzaco: Controlling principal of Torneos y Competencias S.A., a sports marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates. Aaron Davidson: President of Traffic Sports USA Inc. (Traffic USA). Hugo and Mariano Jinkis: Controlling principals of Full Play Group S.A., a sports marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates. And one of the defendants was in the broadcasting business but allegedly served as an intermediary to facilitate illicit payments between sports marketing executives and soccer officials: José Margulies: Controlling principal of Valente Corp. and Somerton Ltd.

The Convicted Individuals and Corporations The following individuals and corporations previously pleaded guilty under seal: On July 15, 2013, the defendant Daryll Warner, son of defendant Jack Warner and a former FIFA development officer, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with wire fraud and the structuring of financial transactions. On Oct. 25, 2013, the defendant Daryan Warner waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a three-count information charging him with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and the structuring of financial transactions. Daryan Warner forfeited over $1.1 million around the time of his plea and has agreed to pay a second forfeiture money judgment at the time of sentencing. On Nov. 25, 2013, the defendant Charles Blazer, the former CONCACAF general secretary and a former FIFA executive committee member, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a 10-count information charging him with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, income tax evasion and failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).

Blazer forfeited over $1.9 million at the time of his plea and has agreed to pay a second amount to be determined at the time of sentencing. On Dec. 12, 2014, the defendant José Hawilla, the owner and founder of the Traffic Group, the Brazilian sports marketing conglomerate, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a four-count information charging him with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Hawilla also agreed to forfeit over $151 million, $25 million of which was paid at the time of his plea. On May 14, 2015, the defendants Traffic Sports USA Inc. and Traffic Sports International Inc. pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. All money forfeited by the defendants is being held in reserve to ensure its availability to satisfy any order of restitution entered at sentencing for the benefit of any individuals or entities that qualify as victims of the defendants’ crimes under federal law. * * * * The indictment unsealed today has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the Eastern District of New York.

The indicted and convicted individual defendants face maximum terms of incarceration of 20 years for the RICO conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice charges. In addition, Eugenio Figueredo faces a maximum term of incarceration of 10 years for a charge of naturalization fraud and could have his U.S. citizenship revoked. He also faces a maximum term of incarceration of five years for each tax charge. Charles Blazer faces a maximum term of incarceration of 10 years for the FBAR charge and five years for the tax evasion charges; and Daryan and Daryll Warner face maximum terms of incarceration of 10 years for structuring financial transactions to evade currency reporting requirements. Each individual defendant also faces mandatory restitution, forfeiture and a fine. By the terms of their plea agreements, the corporate defendants face fines of $500,000 and one year of probation. The government’s investigation is ongoing. The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Evan M. Norris, Amanda Hector, Darren A. LaVerne, Samuel P. Nitze, Keith D. Edelman and Brian D.

Morris of the Eastern District of New York, with assistance provided by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Organized Crime and Gang Section. The Indicted Defendants: FIFA | Basel Governance FIFA The Basel Institute as the secretariat of the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) After Mark Pieth was named chairman of the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) supervising the reform of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the Corporate Governance section of the Basel Institute was assigned the role of the secretariat, supporting the IGC in all aspects of their work. The IGC oversaw the creation and implementation of effective structures and controls so that FIFA and its members act with integrity and confidence is restored amongst all FIFA stakeholders, including fans and the wider public. IGC members Mark Pieth — Chairman Mark Pieth has served as Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology at the University of Basel, Switzerland since 1993. Having completed his undergraduate degree and his PhD in criminal law and criminal procedure at this university, he spent an extensive period of time abroad, most notably at the Max Planck Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology in Germany and the Cambridge Institute of Criminology in the United Kingdom.

After practicing for a time as a private barrister ('Advokat'), he returned to his alma mater to complete his post-doctoral ('habilitation') thesis on sanctioning and other aspects of criminology. From 1989 to 1993, Mark Pieth was Head of Section - Economic and Organised Crime at the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (Ministry of Justice and Police). In this role, he drafted legislation against money laundering, organized crime, drug abuse, corruption and the confiscation of assets. As a government official and later as an independent consultant, he also acquired extensive experience in international fora, amongst other things, serving as Member of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), Member of the Chemical Action Task Force on Precursor Chemicals and Chair of an intergovernmental expert group charged by the United Nations with determining the extent of the illicit traffic in drugs. From the mid-1990s to the present, Mark Pieth has held a range of functions at the international level. He has chaired the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions since 1990.

In spring 2004, he was appointed by the UN Secretary General to the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Iraq Oil-for-Food Program. In autumn 2008, Mark Pieth joined the Integrity Advisory Board of The World Bank Group (IAB), advising the President of Bank and the Audit Committee on integrity issues. José Luis Astiazarán José Luis Astiazarán has served as Executive President of the Spanish Professional Football League since 2005. He is also Executive President of the Foundation of Professional Football and Vice-President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation. Prior to his current appointments, he was Executive President of the Real Sociedad de Futbol and Vice President of the first division clubs of the Spanish Professional Futball League. Mr. Astiazarán was also a practicing lawyer in the lawfirm Astiazarán y Astiazarán Abogados, specializing in civil, commercial and sports law and courts. Lord (Peter) Goldsmith Lord (Peter) Goldsmith QC, PC is Chair of European and Asian Litigation at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

Lord Goldsmith served as the UK’s Attorney General from 2001-2007, prior to which he was in private practice as one of the leading barristers in London. He became Queen’s Counsel in 1987 and has judicial experience as a Crown Court Recorder and a Deputy High Court Judge. Public appointments he has held include: Chairman of the Bar Council of England and Wales, Co-Chairman of the International Bar Association Human Rights Institution, Board member of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, Co-Chairman of the ICC Taskforce on Arbitrations Involving States and Chairman of the UK Financial Reporting Review Panel. He has an active international litigation practice and is a current member of the British House of Lords serving on the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution. Leonardo Grosso Leonardo Grosso has been a FIFPro Board Member since 1994 and FIFPro President since 2010. He began his career as a goalkeeper in Serie A with Genoa in 1963 before joining Serie B club Perugia in 1970.

After four seasons with Perugia he signed for SPAL Ferrara in 1974 before ending his career with Modena in Serie B in 1978. During his 15-year career he performed in over 400 league appearances in Italy’s two top divisions. Leonardo is a professional lawyer, an AIC (Italian Players’ Union) Board Member, the President of the AIC UNLUS Solidarity Fund and a member of the Board of the Fondo Fine Carriera Giocatori ed Allenatori di Calcio (a Fund for Football Players and Coaches who ended their career). He also serves as vice-commissioner of ENPALS (a social services institute for professional athletes). Sunil Gulati Sunil Gulati is the current president of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) and a lecturer in Economics at Columbia University. He serves as a senior advisor to the Kraft Group. Elected in March 2006, Mr. Gulati has been one of the most influential figures in the development of US soccer over the past 30 years. Mr.

Gulati served as USSF Vice-President for six years and played a key role in major USSF decisions for many years prior to his election as president. Carlos Heller Carlos Heller has 44 years of experience in Public Management in the Cooperative Movement in Argentina. Since 2005, he has been serving as President of Credicoop Bank, a cooperative banking organization that chose Mr. Heller as its General Manager when it was founded in 1979. Mr. Heller was also the first Vice Chair of the Association of Public and Private Banks of the Republic of Argentina, the Vice President of the International Association of Cooperative Banks and was a member of the Executive Committee of the Confederation of Popular Banks. Mr. Heller was Vice-President of the Boca Juniors Football Team, Argentina’s most famous and popular team. Mr. Heller is an elected member of the National Congress for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires with a mandate until December 2013. Michael Hershman Michael Hershman is President and CEO of the Fairfax Group. He is an internationally recognized expert on matters relating to transparency, accountability, governance and security.

The Fairfax Group has advised governments, corporations and international financial institutions on issues pertaining to the conduct of senior-level officials and/or the entities with which they do business. In December 2006, Mr. Hershman was appointed Independent Compliance Advisor to the Board of Directors of Siemens AG, a company with more than 400,000 employees. Mr. Hershman served as Senior Staff Investigator for the Senate Watergate Committee, the Chief Investigator for the Federal Election Commission, and as Chief Investigator for a joint Presidential and Congressional Commission reviewing state and federal laws on wiretapping and electronic surveillance. Immediately before founding the Fairfax Group, Mr. Hershman was Deputy Auditor General for the Foreign Assistance Programme of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Mr. Hershman is a Member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee for the Canter for International Private Enterprise. For the past ten years he has been a member of, and Vice Chairman of the INTERPOL International Group of Experts on Corruption (IGEC), and for the past 12 years, he has sat on the Board of the International Anti-Corruption Conference Committee (IACC).

For the past three years, Mr Hershman has been selected as one of the one hundred most influential people in business ethics by the Ethisphere Institute. Mr. Hershman is founder of the International Anti-Corruption Academy an International Organization located in Austria and is Chairman of the Academy Senior Advisory Board. Guillermo Jorge Guillermo Jorge is founder and managing partner of Guillermo Jorge & Asociados, a Buenos Aires based legal and consulting firm specialized in preventing and enforcing anticorruption and anti-money laundering laws and regulation and asset recovery remedies. Mr. Jorge is also an active consultant for international organizations and Latin American governments. Mr. Jorge is serves as the Director of the on Program on Corruption Control at San Andres University School of Law and was Drapper-Hills fellow at the Center for Democracy, Development and the rule of Law at Stanford University (2009), Reagan-Fascell fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy (2006), and fellow at the Stanford Center for Latin American Studies (2002). Recent publications include International Standards against Money Laundering, in Bernd Klose (ed.), Asset Tracing & Recovery, The FraudNet World Compendium, 2nd Ed., Dr.

Erich Schmidt-Verlag, Berlin, Germany, forthcoming, 2012; Políticas de control de lavado de dinero, in Tokatlián, Juan G. (ed.), Drogas y prohibición: una vieja Guerra, un Nuevo debate, El Zorzal, Buenos Aires, 2010; Recuperación de Activos de la Corrupción, Editores del Puerto, Buenos Aires, 2008; The Peruvian Efforts to Recover Proceeds from Montesino´s Criminal Network of Corruption, in Pieth, M. (ed.), Recovering Stolen Assets, Peter Lang, Bern, 2008. Guillermo holds a law degree from Buenos Aires University (1995) and an LLM from Harvard Law School (2003). James Klotz James Klotz is a partner at Miller Thomson LLP, and Co-Chair of the Canadian firm’s International Business Transactions Group. Having led complex corporate and commercial transactions in more than 108 countries, he is widely respected for his deep knowledge and practical experience in the international business arena, his area of specialty. International anti-corruption is a related practice area. Mr.

Klotz is currently President and Chairman of the Board of Transparency International Canada Inc. He is also Chair of the Bar Issues Commission of the International Bar Association, and Vice Chair of the Anti-Corruption Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law. He was previously Chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s International Law Section and Chair of its Anti-Corruption Task Force. Mr. Klotz is an Adjunct Professor of International Law at Osgoode Hall Law School. François Morinière François Morinière has been CEO of Groupe L'Équipe - Groupe Amaury, the market leaders in sport information since September 2008 . Responsible for strategy, editorial content and financial results, François manages and oversees the development of the totality of the groups' printed media (L'Équipe, L'Équipe Mag, France Football, Vélo Magazine, Sport & Style, Journal du Golf, etc.) as well as its digital activities (internet, TV, mobile etc.). Before joining the Groupe L'Équipe - Groupe Amaury, Mr. Morinière has been the Managing Director and later the Chairman of the Executive Board of CBS Outdoor France. FAQs Is this an Independent Committee?

As several influential NGOs from around the world have demanded, the reform process needs to be supervised by experts with a broad spectrum of specializations. This includes people who have deep knowledge of the world of football and experience in the processes that are now being looked at, including players, representatives of associations, marketing representatives and media rights representatives. It also includes experts who bring a different perspective, such as NGOs, and representatives of civil society. Lastly, there need to be specialists with professional governance-related know how such as lawyers of high standing, governance experts and investigators. This is necessary to cover all the skills and perspectives needed to support the governance reform. The Independent Governance Committee (IGC) will have the following tasks: It monitors and reviews the recommendations of the four FIFA Task Forces (Football 2014, Ethics Committee, Transparency and Compliance, Revision of Statutes) and submits the final recommendations to the FIFA Executive Committee. The IGC is independent in its recommendations and is the final authority to submit recommendations to FIFA`s Executive Committee. The IGC cannot legally enforce any changes. However, it does have the right to monitor the decision-making and implementation of its recommendations. ICG will regularly inform the public about the progress made. Why are the Members not working pro bono?

Establishing good governance for FIFA is a serious and time-consuming professional task. It is comparable to other professional services and related responsibilities, such as audit work, forensic services, or compliance monitoring. Such work is appropriately remunerated. Of course, each Committee member is free to decide how to use his or her remuneration, including whether to use the funds for non-commercial purposes, such as university research. Is the IGC looking into the past? The primary goal of the effort is to establish good governance for FIFA in a timely manner, taking into account its economic, social and political significance (e.g. current officials will need to undergo the due diligence process, e.g. conflict of interest checks). Obviously a sound governance reform process is based on a risk analysis. Therefore, the IGC will consider the results of both closed and on-going investigations relating to FIFA officials. Finally, the IGC reserves the option to recommend additional investigations into the past, if it deems it necessary in order to implement its recommendations. Personal contributions by members of the Basel Institute Marco Balmelli — Interview BBC Panorama “FIFA & COE”, 22.

October 2010 (PDF) Mark Pieth — “Hier liegt Sprengkraft”, NZZ, 3. April 2012 (PDF) Mark Pieth — “Es hilft nur ständiger Druck”, Spiegel Online, 3. April 2012 (PDF) Mark Pieth — “Sportverbände dürfen kein Freiraum für Geschäftemacher sein”, Die Zeit, 1. February 2012 (PDF) Mark Pieth — Interview Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung über sein persönliches Risiko und die Herausforderungen als Fifa-Aufklärer, 25. January 2012 (PDF) Mark Pieth — “FIFA must show a red card to corruption”, Financial Times, January 19, 2012 (PDF) Mark Pieth — “Stehen internationale Sportverbände über dem Recht?”, in: Jusletter 14. March, 2011 (PDF) Background The Enron of Sports: FIFA's Upheaval, from Corruption Arrests to Rising Death Toll in Qatar | Democracy Now!

The Enron of Sports: FIFA's Upheaval, from Corruption Arrests to Rising Death Toll in Qatar StoryMay 29, 2015 Dave Zirin sports columnist for The Nation magazine and host of Edge of Sports Radio on SiriusXM. Zirin is the author of several books on sports. His latest is Brazil’s Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy. Jules Boykoff teaches political science at Pacific University in Oregon. He is the author of Activism and the Olympics: Dissent at the Games in Vancouver and London and Celebration Capitalism and the Olympic Games. In the 1980s and 1990s, he represented the U.S. Olympic soccer team in international competition. Links Edge of Sports In what’s been described as the largest scandal in modern sports history, nine high-ranking soccer officials, including two current vice presidents of soccer’s world governing body, FIFA, were indicted along with five sports marketing executives on federal corruption charges by the U.S. Justice Department.

Among those arrested in connection with the probe is Jack Warner, former vice president of FIFA, who is accused of taking a $10 million bribe to cast his ballot for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup. Despite the arrests, FIFA is holding an election today to pick the next president of the organization. FIFA President Sepp Blatter is seeking re-election for the post he has held since 1998. Many commentators have predicted he will be re-elected, though some nations, including the United States, have vowed to vote against him. We speak to sportswriter Dave Zirin and Jules Boykoff, former professional soccer player who represented the U.S. Olympic soccer team. TRANSCRIPT This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to what some have described as the largest scandal in modern sports history. Earlier this week, nine high-ranking soccer officials, including two current vice presidents of soccer’s world governing body, FIFA, were indicted along with five sports marketing executives on federal corruption charges by the U.S. Justice Department.

Early on Wednesday, Swiss authorities made a series of arrests at a five-star hotel at the request of the the U.S. authorities. AMY GOODMAN: Among those arrested in connection with the probe is Jack Warner, former vice president of FIFA, who is accused of taking a $10 million bribe to cast his ballot for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the corruption dates back to at least 1991. ATTORNEY GENERAL LORETTA LYNCH: The 14 defendants charged in the indictment we are unsealing today include high-ranking officials of FIFA, the international organization responsible for regulating and promoting soccer, leaders of regional and other governing bodies under the FIFA umbrella and sports marketing executives who, according to the indictment, paid millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments. The 47-count indictment against these individuals includes charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies spanning two decades. AMY GOODMAN: On Thursday, the chief of the IRS Criminal Investigation [unit], Richard Weber, described the corruption within FIFA.

RICHARD WEBER: As the best financial investigators in the world, IRS-CI special agents exposed complex money-laundering schemes, uncovered millions of dollars in untaxed income, and discovered tens of millions of dollars hidden away in offshore accounts in countries like Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and Switzerland. This really is the World Cup of fraud. And today we are issuing FIFA a red card. NERMEEN SHAIKH: Despite the arrests, FIFA is holding an election today to pick the next president of the organization. FIFA President Sepp Blatter is seeking re-election for the post he has held since 1998. Many commentators have predicted he will be re-elected, though some nations, including the United States, have vowed to vote against him. Earlier today, protesters in Zurich called for Blatter to step down. This is Alaphia Zoyab of the group Avaaz.

ALAPHIA ZOYAB: If Blatter doesn’t go despite giving the World Cup to a country that has slave labor, if Blatter doesn’t go despite the fact that his sponsors are starting to wobble, and if Blatter doesn’t go despite the fact that half his board has been arrested, it’s not just Blatter that needs to be axed, the FIFA Congress itself needs to be questioned. AMY GOODMAN: This week’s FIFA arrests are just the latest scandal within the international soccer community. FIFA has also come under criticism for selecting Qatar to host the 2022 games despite the country’s poor human rights record. According to the International Trade Union Confederation, 1,200 migrant workers have died since the World Cup was awarded in 2010. To talk more about FIFA and the soccer scandals, we’re joined by two guests. Jules Boykoff is with us, former professional soccer player who represented the U.S. Olympic soccer team. He now teaches political science at Pacific University in Oregon, joining us from Portland. And in Washington, D.C., sportswriter Dave Zirin.

His latest book, Brazil’s Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy. Well, Dave, you’ve been covering this for a long time. We were interviewing you in Brazil when the World Cup was there. Are you surprised? DAVE ZIRIN: Not surprised at all, about as surprised as I’d be if I fell in a pool and emerged wet. The only thing that is surprising here is that we’re now dealing with charges that have actual teeth. That’s the only surprise. I mean, we are talking about the Enron of sports and a hubris and arrogance that is bringing down a multibillion-dollar corporation. The only difference between FIFA and Enron is that FIFA has been designated a nonprofit by the Swiss government, which makes looking at its books and finding the extent of the corruption all the more difficult. Now, for Democracy Now! listeners and viewers, I could understand why people would look at the U.S. Justice Department and say, "Why can’t they be this aggressive towards the Wall Street bankers? Why can’t they be this aggressive towards police brutality?" And those viewers are absolutely correct.

But people should also realize that this is a day that people should celebrate, because it is crippling one of the most corrupt multinationals that we have, sports or otherwise. NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Dave, could you tell us a little bit about Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA? He wasn’t among those who was indicted, and today he’s running for president, for re-election for president of FIFA. DAVE ZIRIN: Yes, Sepp Blatter, as you said, he has been in charge of FIFA for 17 years. The thing about Sepp Blatter that distinguishes him from the people who were indicted is that Sepp Blatter uses his power and influence to attain more power. He’s less interested in personal enrichment than he is in influence, and this is what has allowed him to remain free of prison these last many years. Although Sepp Blatter is also—he will not get off a plane in the United States, for fear that he will be arrested. That is true. There are also people saying that he might not attend the Women’s World Cup in Canada, for fear that he might be arrested.

So, you’re talking about somebody who is effectively a stateless actor, somebody who is under investigation, who will probably be re-elected for a fifth term to head FIFA. AMY GOODMAN: Are there any U.S. Justice Department Blatter leaks? What will happen to Blatter next, Dave? DAVE ZIRIN: That’s a terrific question. What is very clear is that Lorreta Lynch has Blatter in her sights. That’s why she said she wanted to uproot corruption going back 20 years. That’s Blatter’s term. And let’s be clear about this, too: The U.S. Justice Department is going after FIFA very simply because the U.S. was not awarded the 2022 World Cup. If they had been, I don’t think this investigation would be taking place. And also let’s keep in mind that the Justice Department has only gone after, at this point, a small part of the world—North America, Central America, these confederations.

What it says to us is that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and if some of these FIFA vice presidents begin to talk, begin to flip, if you will, to use Mafia parlance, what we could be looking at is the bringing down of Sepp Blatter and perhaps the beginning of the end of FIFA itself. AMY GOODMAN: Could you talk about the revelations regarding the Clinton Foundation— DAVE ZIRIN: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: —having received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Qatari World Cup Committee— DAVE ZIRIN: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: —when Bill Clinton was serving as the U.S. World Cup delegate with the U.S. cup world delegation—the World Cup delegation? DAVE ZIRIN: Yes. Not only has the Clinton Foundation received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Qatar World Cup Committee, it has also received millions of dollars from the Qatari government over the last several years.

And the Clintons are going to have to answer this question, because, as you said in the intro, the Qatari World Cup construction has an absolutely monstrous body count—1,200 deaths—slavery, and even the prevention of Nepalese migrant workers of going home to Nepal after the recent earthquake to go to funerals for members of their family. Now, there is this lore that’s out there in the media that Bill Clinton was so angry after the U.S. did not get the World Cup bid for 2022, he broke a mirror, and that signaled that the United States was going to get serious about corruption in the World Cup. This is mainstream media hooey. What you see much more clearly is a very bizarre, very unexplained connection between the Qatari royal family, the Qatari World Cup bid and the Clinton Foundation, which allegedly was to facilitate less labor abuses, when in reality we have not seen that at all. AMY GOODMAN: The Guardian has an amazing figure: Despite Qatar’s promises to improve conditions, Nepali migrants have died at a rate of one every two days in 2014 in Qatar.

DAVE ZIRIN: Yeah, and that blood is on Sepp Blatter’s hands, as well. Even though, ironically, Sepp Blatter was not in favor of the Qatari bid, he has said that this World Cup will go on in 2022, quote-unquote, "over his dead body"—that’s his words—even though it’s 125 degrees during the summer in Qatar, even though they’re going to have to have the World Cup in 2022 in the fall, which will effectively cut into, if not completely reorganize, the European soccer leagues, which are the world’s most popular. And that’s why I think 2022, if Blatter is re-elected and if we have a situation where he’s not imprisoned, where we could be looking at the crack-up of FIFA in the years to come, because the splits are really profound. And the splits are unclear. Voting against Blatter today will not only be the United States, as you mentioned, but also the Palestinian Football Association. So, if Blatter and FIFA have done nothing else, they have brought the interests of Palestine and the interests of the United States together for once.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, could you talk about that, Dave? Your recent piece talks about the Palestinian Football Association’s bid to have the Israeli Football Association, you know, somehow sanctioned for the way it treats Palestinian football players. Could you talk about that? DAVE ZIRIN: Yes, sanctioned or expelled. It would be the first time since apartheid South Africa that a country was asked to leave FIFA because of its practices. But this news is changing as I’m speaking to you. There are negotiations going on. Israel, from what I hear from news reports, is already relenting on what has been a blockade preventing players in Gaza from traveling freely to the West Bank. And that’s what the Palestinian Football Association is charging Israel with. They’re saying they are choking out their ability to develop soccer because of the way that they get in the way of free movement of players, free movement of coaches. And perhaps the most damning accusation towards the Israeli Football Association is that they have created and formed five or six, depending on reports, clubs in the Occupied Territories, in the settlements of the West Bank, so it’s Israeli Football Association using soccer as a way to take land that should rightfully be part of a possible Palestinian state.

And they’re saying that the Israeli Football Association should be removed from FIFA unless they agree to cease these practices. And there are furious negotiations going on, as we speak, to try to head that off. AMY GOODMAN: Russian President Vladimir Putin has come out in defense of the embattled FIFA president, Sepp Blatter. Russia is due to host the World Cup in 2018. Putin drew comparisons between the alleged attempt to oust Blatter and the charges brought against National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, who’s got political asylum in Russia, and WikiLeaks founder and editor Julian Assange. He accused the U.S. of meddling outside its jurisdiction. PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: [translated] With regard to the arrests that have been made, it looks very strange, to say the least, because the arrests have been made at the request of the American side on charges of corruption. And who were charged? International officials. We can assume that some of them may have violated something. I don’t know. But it’s clear that the U.S. has nothing to do with that anyway. Those officials are not U.S. citizens.

And if some event indeed happened, and it happened not on the United States territory, and the U.S. has nothing to do with that, this is yet another blatant attempt to extend its jurisdiction to other states. AMY GOODMAN: Dave Zirin, your response? DAVE ZIRIN: Well— AMY GOODMAN: That was, of course, Vladimir Putin. DAVE ZIRIN: Well, I mean, Vladimir Putin will also be having to answer, in the weeks and months to come, new allegations about the use of prison labor to create World Cup facilities in Russia. But that being said, one thing that Putin is saying which is true is that the United States Justice Department is using statutes that they—that was granted to it by law after 9/11 as a way to conduct international antiterror arrests in other countries that they have extradition agreements with. So this was a post-9/11 arrest using antiterror statutes as a way to arrest foreign officials and bring them to the United States for trial. And these antiterror statutes are so broad that if someone even tries to send money through a computer server in the United States, it dings off a server in the U.S., then the U.S.

Justice Department has jurisdiction to go into another country, conduct an arrest and bring people back to the U.S. for trial. So this is the United States playing globocop. That is irrefutable. NERMEEN SHAIKH: Jules Boykoff, I want to ask you—you’ve played competitively for the U.S. in international soccer tournaments. What was your response when this scandal broke with FIFA? And can you say a little about the way in which soccer has changed from the time that you played to now? JULES BOYKOFF: Absolutely. Well, corruption in FIFA has been an open secret for a long time. I actually was a little bit surprised when the allegations came out, and I was surprised that the Justice Department would pursue this using the legal means at its disposal. Soccer has changed a lot over the years, and it’s become a big-time money enterprise, and there’s a whole lot at stake. FIFA is supposedly a nonprofit organization, yet it sure is profitable. It has holdings of about $1.5 billion. It made nearly $5 billion off the Brazil World Cup.

And so, when you have that kind of money floating around, we shouldn’t be surprised about stories regarding envelopes full of tens of thousands of dollars, or we shouldn’t be surprised by stories like Chuck Blazer, the U.S. soccer honcho, who was renting an apartment at Trump Tower, not too far from you, at $18,000 a month. In fact, the guy had an apartment for his cats at $6,000 a month. So when you have that kind of money floating around, we shouldn’t be surprised that we see these kind of corrupt activities. What’s interesting to me, too, though, beyond that, beyond the actual illegal corruption, is the corruption that’s sort of imbedded in everyday practice for FIFA. So, for example, since 1999, under Sepp Blatter, he’s distributed funds through various programs, including the Goal Project, Football for Hope, to various small countries, and that’s how he’s gained their allegiance. So your listeners and viewers might be wondering how the heck is this guy going to possibly get re-elected shortly. Therein lies the answer.

He’s distributed money, he’s farmed it out, and he’s gained the allegiance from people across the world this way. So he may well get the two-thirds he needs in the first vote today. That’s 140 votes. And if he doesn’t, he may well get the majority required in the second round of voting. AMY GOODMAN: Dave Zirin, before you go, I wanted to ask you about, you know, what’s being said is Loretta Lynch’s first big move as U.S. attorney general. Now, she took this with her from being U.S. attorney here in New York. But before this, of course, the indictments against the banks were announced, or the settlement. Now, that was banks, not individuals. What about that comparison, that you see all these people hauled off, but when it comes to the banks, no one is named? DAVE ZIRIN: Yeah, I think it’s disturbing.

And another one is the real timidity to go after local police departments, as well, by the Justice Department, given some of the cases like, for example, the one that you discussed at the top of the show that’s so horrifying, about the woman who was pregnant and brought to the ground. I think this is something that people need to demand and press the Justice Department about. And frankly, I think it is happening because FIFA is such low-hanging fruit. I mean, if you think about it, it’s not people from the United States. It looks extremely aggressive. And FIFA’s reputation has been terrible for about 20, 25 years. And so, this idea of, oh, people are actually doing something about FIFA, especially at a time when soccer is growing in popularity in the United States, this is a very, very popular, bipartisan move for the United States to do. And for the right wing, it also looks very muscular, because it’s going overseas to play globocop and make an arrest and bring people then back to the United States for trial. Yet lost in all of this is the precedent, first of all, that the U.S.

is setting by going overseas on a non-terror case to make an arrest and bring people back. And what’s being lost is that you have bankers in this country who facilitated the largest theft in the history of thieves back in 2008, and yet they remain free. I think that’s something people need to continue to press and ask this Justice Department: If they’re this muscular with FIFA, why not with the Wall Street bankers? AMY GOODMAN: Jules Boykoff, talk about the women’s cup. JULES BOYKOFF: Well, that’s one of the sad facts of all this, is that the Women’s World Cup is going to start on June 6, and it’s getting totally overshadowed by this FIFA corruption scandal. It’s going to be a terrific tournament. Canada is hosting it. We’re going to see women from across the world play some terrific soccer in front of us. Unfortunately, they’re going to be playing on artificial turf fields, which has been a point of major disagreement from the women players who will be coming to Canada, because of the possibility of injury increasing and because it changes the game, makes it a bit faster and different than it is on grass.

But certainly, FIFA has a long history of flinging misogyny in every direction. Back in 2004, Sepp Blatter stated quite clearly, when asked how we could make the women’s game more popular in the world, he suggested that they wear tighter shorts. For real. Ten years later, he didn’t even recognize Alex Morgan, one of the top three players in the world, up for the FIFA Player of the Year award. He didn’t even recognize her at the gala banquet dinner. A couple—also, beyond that, he walked up to Abby Wambach’s wife, Sarah Huffman, and thought she was Marta, the Brazilian star who had won the FIFA award five times. So, misogyny in FIFA, sexism in FIFA runs deep. And this has been one of the sad side effects, is that we’re not talking about what’s going to be a terrific tournament. AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you both for being with us. Jules Boykoff teaches political science at Pacific University in Oregon, author of Activism and the Olympics: Dissent at the Games in Vancouver and London, as well as Celebration Capitalism and the Olympic Games.

In the ’80s and ’90s, he represented the U.S. Olympic soccer team in international competition. And thanks to Dave Zirin, sports columnist for The Nation. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we go to Texas, where floods have killed many people. We’ll talk about climate change, from Texas to India. Stay with us. The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License . Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us. Next story from this daily show

Question: FIFA is an international organization governing what sport?
Answer: Soccer