What has happened since those dawn arrests of seven Fifa officials at the Baur au Lac hotel on 27 May?
If a week is a long time in politics, it is suddenly a lifetime in Fifaland. After decades of becoming inured to the scandals piling up at their door, a web of current and former Fifa executives are now feeling very nervous as the FBI net tightens.
Since their cosy world of five-star hotels and sizeable per diems was shattered when seven of their number were hauled from their beds by Swiss police, Fifa executives have woken each day to a new avalanche of developments that have spiralled into an existential crisis. After 17 years as Fifa president, Sepp Blatter won re-election despite the mounting crisis only to promise to quit four days later.
How many Fifa executives have been implicated?
Seven Fifa executives were arrested by Swiss plainclothes officers at the Baur au Lac hotel on 27 May, two days before Blatter was standing for re-election against Prince Ali bin al-Hussein. They included the Fifa vice-presidents Eugenio Figueredo and Jeffrey Webb, the latter also president of the North and Central American football confederation (Concacaf) who was close to Blatter and styled himself as a reformer. In total, 18 officials were named in the US indictment – including the seven arrested in Zurich – and charged with a total of 47 offences including racketeering, fraud and money laundering.
The arrest of Webb shocked many in football and was particularly damaging for Blatter, who had praised the work he had done in apparently cleaning up Concacaf and tipped him as his possible successor.
Among those charged and later included on a wanted persons list by Interpol were the former Concacaf president Jack Warner – accused down the years of a string of controversies before resigning from all football positions in 2011 – and Nicolas Leoz, a former head of the South American football federation (Conmebol), who was once accused of demanding a knighthood from English delegates in return for his World Cup vote.
A handful of sports marketing executives in Central and South America allegedly involved in dispensing $150m (£98m) in kickbacks were also named alongside the nine football officials. Ricardo Teixeira, a former head of the Brazilian FA who oversaw preparations for the 2014 World Cup before being forced to resign in 2012, is also now being investigated by the Brazilian authorirties and the FBI.
Was Chuck Blazer among them?
Yes. It was revealed that the American former Concacaf general secretary who was Warner’s right-hand man for 21 years pleaded guilty in 2013 after being approached by federal investigators two years earlier over unpaid tax bills worth millions. The testimony of the colourful 70-year-old – nicknamed Mr 10% due to the cash he topsliced from every marketing deal for two decades – was given in secret to a New York judge in 2013 but only made public on Wednesday, and laid out in stark detail the scale of the larceny.
What else is under investigation by the FBI?
Just about every major decision in world football over the past 25 years is now under suspicion as part of the US investigation. Swiss investigators were already looking into the chaotic race to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, and now the FBI is understood to be looking at those too.
The vote for the 2010 World Cup, won by South Africa, is also under suspicion over a disputed $10m payment to Concacaf from the organisers, which was paid by Fifa and deducted from their budget. The South African FA says it was for football development; the US indictment says it was a bribe. Letters that emerged this week showed that South Africa asked Fifa to make the payment and that Jerome Valcke, the secretary general, knew about it.
Also under the spotlight is the vote for the 1998 World Cup in France, over alleged bribes paid by one of the losing bidders, Morocco, and the organisation of the 2014 World Cup.
Is there likely to be a revote for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments?
A disputed summary of an 18-month investigation by Fifa’s ethics committee – so contentious that its author Michael Garcia resigned in protest at the way it had been handled – said last year that there was not enough evidence to justify Russia or Qatar losing the World Cup. But it also said Russia couldn’t be investigated because the bid team claimed all their emails had been deleted, and provided a list of reasons for suspicion about the Qatar bid.
Almost half of those who voted in December 2010 have left the Fifa executive committee in disgrace, but until this week’s dramatic events there was little momentum behind a revote. That could change if the FBI or Swiss investigators find incontrovertible proof that bribes were paid and a new Fifa president decides to reopen the bidding. Partly for logistical reasons and partly because Vladimir Putin would fiercely resist any attempt to take the 2018 World Cup away from Russia, even then the focus is more likely to be on the choice of Qatar for 2022.
Is England going to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup?
No. And every time a politician such as Boris Johnson has mooted the idea in case Russia or Qatar are stripped of the right to host the World Cup, it has been used by some to accuse England of being motivated by bitterness at losing the race for the 2018 tournament. The FA has now categorically ruled out the prospect.
Why did Blatter resign on Tuesday, four days after being re-elected?
Despite his bullish defiance over the weekend following his re-election – blaming US investigators and the British media for trying to unseat him – Blatter cut a diminished figure following a day of speculation over the fate of his right-hand man Valcke. His about-turn seems to have been partly based on the sense that the investigation was coming closer to his office, partly by an attempt to retain a modicum of control by announcing he would step down in six to nine months’ time, and partly by the entreaties of those close to him who were telling him this was a crisis of a different magnitude to those he had experienced in the past. One other factor was the fact that the Swiss media and establishment, who had remained largely loyal through endless scandals, were taking the same mocking tone as the rest of the world.
Can he cling on until the end of the year?
Blatter returned to work the day after his resignation to a standing ovation from staff, promising widespread reforms to limit the powers of the confederation chiefs he blames for his demise. But many believe he is now a dead man walking and will be forced to stand aside, either by the FBI investigation or by those close to him, within months.
What does this have to do with Thierry Henry?
The Frenchman’s handball in a match against Ireland in 2009, which led to a goal that prevented the Irish from qualifying for the World Cup, has been dragged into the week of crisis. The Football Association of Ireland chief, John Delaney, revealed that Fifa paid his organisation €5m to avert legal action. The lack of transparency around the deal has been used as an example of the lassez-faire way in which Blatter apparently treated Fifa funds as his own.
What does Fifa’s future look like?
While those in the west argue for fundamental reform and a president who can restore global trust, it must be remembered that two-thirds of Fifa’s 209 members (who each hold equal voting rights, from the Cayman Islands to China) voted for Blatter’s re-election despite the scale of international opprobrium. While Blatter tries to control his succession, there will be plenty of others within the organisation who will attempt to circle the wagons and keep any bodies buried.
The FA chairman Greg Dyke has argued that the institution must be reformed before a chosen candidate can be identified. But the plotting on all sides has already begun and there is a danger that the organisation will revert to type without external intervention.
What next for the FBI investigation?
US investigators say the indictment last week was only the beginning and that more charges will follow as it unpicks two generations of corrupt behaviour at Fifa – referred to in Blazer’s testimony as a “racketeering-influenced criminal organisation. Meanwhile, the extradition process continues against the seven Fifa officials arrested in Zurich. They are all fighting extradition but when US authorities are successful they are expected to lean heavily on the seven for further information that could indict others at Fifa.
