On a regular morning in Zurich, Switzerland plain clothed police officers quietly entered a luxurious 5-star hotel. After quietly asking the front desk for their room key, they proceeded to walk 7 FIFA officials to their police car after informing them they were going on a bit of trip, luckily they were allowed to bring their luggage.
In total, 14 people were arrested in response to a U.S. Department of Justice indictment naming said individuals on charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. The arrested individuals face extradition to the U.S., where an investigation into allegations of widespread corruption in marketing and broadcast deals is taking place.
A separate but cooperating investigation is being carried out by the Swiss, who are looking into the controversial allocations of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups for Russia and Qatar, respectively.
“[We have also] seized data and documents stored in IT systems at the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)” said a statement from the official online portal of the Swiss government.
But one man was not among those arrested, Sepp Blatter. Despite the arrests, FIFA is set to continue its presidential elections, in which Blatter hopes to confirm his 5th term as the FIFA president this Friday.
You may be wondering, why is the United States getting involved? Americans aren’t even that interested in soccer.
It’s all about the money.
Beyond the sport, the world cup garners large sums of money and countries compete aggressively to win the bid to host the World Cup. From 2011 to 2014 FIFA admitted to revenues of $5.7 billion, making them more of a corporation than a governing body.
Anything that’s involved with any sort of connection to American finances, such as banks and internet providers, is subject to the United States Department of Justice. Thus the DoJ claims the authority to bring cases against foreign nationals stateside. This law has commonly been utilized in cases of international terrorism.
Loreta Lynch, the United States General Attorney, is leading the case against FIFA and has cited evidence of corruption dating back 20 years.
While these charges may seem serious, they have yet to reach the man leading the entire operation, Sepp Blatter.
Looking at the bigger picture of the future for the world cup, things seem set for at least the next 7 years.
Looking to the 2018 World Cup in Russia it seems unlikely FIFA would change the host nation, even if it were proven Russia bribed FIFA official to receive the rights to host the World Cup. Millions if not Billions in economic inflow would be snatched away from Russia.
Soccer fans around the world are most likely left wondering, are these arrest really going to change anything?
