Fifa’s secretary-general, Jérôme Valcke, has been suspended after being accused of agreeing to help sell Brazil 2014 World Cup tickets on the black market for millions of dollars in personal profit.
In a fresh scandal to engulf football’s governing organisation, Benny Alon, a former footballer from Israel who has worked as a ticketing and hospitality agent at every World Cup since 1990, revealed emails said to be between him and Mr Valcke that appeared to show Mr Valcke knew Mr Alon intended to sell 8,750 tickets for 24 “crème de la crème” matches at last year’s World Cup at several times their face value. This would be a breach of Fifa’s rules on ticket sales.
Mr Valcke’s lawyer said his client “unequivocally denies the fabricated and outrageous accusations”.
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In a brief statement, Fifa said Mr Valcke “has been put on leave and released from his duties effective immediately until further notice. Fifa has been made aware of a series of allegations involving the secretary-general and has requested a formal investigation by the Fifa Ethics Committee.”
Mr Alon spent yesterday briefing journalists on his claims, and said that in a meeting with Mr Valcke in 2013, the pair agreed that Mr Alon’s JB Sports Marketing (JBSM) would be provided with the tickets to matches featuring the host country, Brazil, and the eventual champions, Germany.
“I told him we’d like tickets to three Germany matches, and all the matches Brazil might play,” Mr Alon told the Daily Mail. “It was clear we could make a good amount of money from selling these tickets if we got these games – the crème de la crème – and we agreed to split the profit.”
Mr Valcke, a former sports journalist, is the second most important man in Fifa after Sepp Blatter, and has been secretary-general since 2007. So far none of the various allegations against Fifa executives have suggested anyone sought to benefit from corrupt deals.
Mr Alon said that, in the end, the deal didn’t happen. Mr Alon said Mr Valcke asked him if it could be cancelled, “as a favour”, because Fifa already had an official ticketing partnership with a different company, Match.
In an email to Mr Alon on 12 December 2013, Mr Valcke allegedly wrote: “Benny, if you ask lawyers about [it] nothing will happen. You, we, have no choice. Otherwise [your] deal will be cancelled by Fifa or we all face an individuals criminal offence. It is not a joke. It is very serious. So avoid too many advice. Just do it, if I may say using a slogan from one company involved. All is clear and has to be finalized now. Thanks. Jérôme.” There appears to be an eight-month gap between the point at which Mr Valcke had been made aware that the tickets would be sold at inflated prices and the deal being withdrawn.
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Mr Alon alleges one email exchange between the two men was over an agreed meeting to exchange large amounts of cash. This email exchange showed Mr Valcke saying he was too busy to meet. Mr Alon said he therefore returned the cash to the bank the next day.
Mr Valcke was plunged into Fifa scandal when his name was seen at the bottom of an email licensing a $10m (£6.5m) payment from Fifa to the Caribbean Football Union for an “African Diaspora Legacy Programme” connected to the South Africa World Cup which was alleged to have been diverted to Jack Warner, the then president of the Concacaf federation. Fifa said Mr Valcke was not involved in the initiation or the implementation of the payment. Mr Valcke has indicated he will step down from Fifa in February.
