Seb Blatter showered with cash at a press conference in Zurich, July 2015. Demotix/Elyxandro Cegarra. All rights reserved. Speaking on Thursday, December 3, on the corruption indictments of additional FIFA officials (bringing the total number of individuals and entities charged to date to 41) American Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said “The Department of Justice is committed to ending the rampant corruption we have alleged amidst the leadership of international soccer – not only because of the scale of the schemes, or the brazenness and breadth of the operation required to sustain such corruption, but also because of the affront to international principles that this behavior represents”. In other words, it has simply become impossible in the present world to defy public integrity so openly and so outrageously as FIFA has done for many years. Having just celebrated International Anticorruption Day (December 9) - it is worth pondering what this means for the world. It has simply become impossible in the present world to defy public integrity so openly and so outrageously as FIFA has done for many years.
For instance, if FIFA officials systematically gave broadcast rights or picked tournament locations on the basis of favouritism, in exchange for kickbacks or other favours this means that corruption was the rule, not the exception in the way FIFA operated.
American officials claim that for decades, FIFA officials “used their power as the leaders of soccer federations throughout the world to create a web of corruption and greed that compromises the integrity of the beautiful game”.
