The FIFA’s offices in Zurich, Switzerland. (Getty)
Several high-ranking FIFA officials will be indicted by the United States government, according to the New York Times.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter is not among those arrested. At least six of the officials were arrested Wednesday morning by Swiss authorities at the request of the United States Justice Department, which has brought charges against more than 10 of the leaders of soccer’s global governing body.
“We’re struck by just how long this went on for and how it touched nearly every part of what FIFA did,” said a law enforcement official told the Times. “It just seemed to permeate every element of the federation and was just their way of doing business. It seems like this corruption was institutionalized.”
The charges against the top FIFA officials include wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering, according to the Times.
The Times has named nine of the soccer officials facing charges:
- Jeffrey Webb: A 50-year-old native of the Cayman Islands, Webb is the president of CONCACAF (the governing body for North American and Caribbean soccer associations) and a FIFA Vice President.
- Jack Warner: A 72-year-old former FIFA executive from Trinidad and Tobago who was the CONCACAF president before Webb. He has been accused previously of taking millions in bribes among other corrupt practices.
- Eduardo Li: The President of the Costa Rica Football Association, Li was set to take a spot on the FIFA Executive Board as the representative of CONCACAF’s Central America region.
- Julio Rocha: A FIFA Development Officer from Nicaragua.
- Costas Takkas: He is the general secretary of the Cayman Islands Football Association, according to The Guardian.
- Rafael Esquivel: A member of the Venezuelan Football Association, Esquivel is on FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee.
- Jose Maria Marin: He was the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation until April 2015, is a politician who once served as the governor of Sao Paulo and was the local organizing committee president for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil
- Nicolas Leoz: Like Warner, Leoz has faced corruption charges in the past. He resigned from FIFA’s Executive Committee in 2013 after being accused of taking bribes, according to the BBC. He was also accused of demanding knighthood from England in return for his vote for their bid to host the 2018 World Cup. He is from Paraguay.
Read more about the charges at the link below:
