FIFA Organization

NEW YORK — Two former 21st Century Fox executives and a South American sports marketing company pleaded not guilty on Thursday to criminal charges in New York in the long-running corruption probe surrounding FIFA, the world governing body for soccer.

The former Fox executives, Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez, and Full Play Group SA entered their pleas to crimes including wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy at an arraignment before U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn.

BERN — FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said that football will be "totally different" when it re-starts after the coronavirus. He has talked of smaller, but more meaningful, competitions, more balance and football being "more attentive to true values."

Infantino has not yet gone into further details and some may question his credentials in this matter: as FIFA president he has increased the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams and, in a previous role as UEFA general secretary, oversaw growing financial inequality in European football.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar has become the focus of fresh FIFA corruption allegations after the release of a new U.S. Department of Justice indictment which says bribes were paid to football officials to secure their votes for hosting rights.

Suspicion and rumours have long surrounded both the 2010 vote by FIFA's executive to hand the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar. But on Monday, for the first time, prosecutors set direct, formal allegations down in print.

U.S. prosecutors on Monday announced new criminal charges against two former executives of 21st Century Fox Inc and others stemming from a long-running investigation of corruption surrounding FIFA, soccer's world governing body.

The former Fox executives, Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez, were indicted in Brooklyn federal court on wire fraud and money laundering along with Gerard Romy, former co-CEO of Spanish media company Imagina Media Audiovisual SL, and Full Play Group SA, a Uruguayan sports marketing company. Lawyers for the defendants could not immediately be identified. 

ZURICH — The age limit for the Tokyo Olympics men's football tournament could be raised so that players who were eligible in 2020 will not miss out following the postponement of the Games until the following year, FIFA said on Friday.

Olympic football is usually restricted to under-23 teams for the men's tournament, with three overage players allowed per team.

MANCHESTER — FIFA is working on the details of a "Football Marshall plan" to deal with the financial fall-out from the coronavirus pandemic, which will almost certainly result in them dipping into their $2.7 billion reserves.

World soccer's governing body has set up a working group to look into the myriad of issues thrown up by the halting of the game across the globe as a result of the pandemic and this week it is expected to focus on ways in which it can help give a cash boost to those struggling.

BERN — World soccer players' union FIFPRO is "extremely concerned" at the number of clubs which have imposed redundancies and wage cuts after the stoppage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Soccer has been brought to a standstill by the coronavirus crisis with domestic leagues suspended and international competitions such as Euro 2020 and the Copa America postponed.

FIFPRO and its affiliated national unions had already received "a large volume of calls for assistance from professional footballers," the union said on Friday.

Current contracts for players and coaches should be extended until the end of the delayed domestic soccer seasons, according to an internal FIFA document presented to its Coronavirus Working Group. The confidential document, seen by Reuters, also recommends allowing transfer windows to be changed in accordance with new season dates and urges clubs and players to work together to find solutions to salary payments during stoppages.