Bellinzona (Switzerland) (AFP)

A "sublime" cake, negotiated crumb by crumb: judged in Switzerland, the ex-number 2 of Fifa Jérôme Valcke painted Tuesday a picture of the television rights market, financial windfall of football boosted by the arrival of beIN Media.

The question is crucial for the Frenchman, accused of having supported the obtaining by the Qatari channel of the rights to two World Cups in exchange for a luxurious villa made available to him by Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, boss of beIN and PSG , judged by his side.

However, this contract signed in 2014 was "quite astonishing", "fantastic", "I would not say unexpected, but sublime for Fifa", insisted the former secretary general of the instance, 59, heard Tuesday by the Court Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona.

For 480 million dollars, Al-Jazeera, now beIN, won the retransmission of the Worlds-2026 and 2030 in the Middle East and North Africa, a spectacular jump compared to the rights of the World-2014 ceded $ 50 million to a another channel for the same geographic area.

This agreement "has never been denounced by anyone because it is a golden contract, in a complicated region where there is no competition", added the former right-hand man of the deposed boss of Fifa, Sepp Blatter.

- Qatari boom -

Jérôme Valcke, who faces five years in prison for "unfair management" in this case, has also swept away the idea that Fifa could have been harmed by the absence of a call for tenders or negotiation with others regional actors.

"The rights to the World Cup are such that you don't have many broadcasters capable of buying them", he stressed, citing as rare competitive markets Germany with ARD and ZDF, or France with TF1 and France Télévisions.

In addition, in this segment which has increased the income of world football since the 1970s, "conducting a call for tenders does not mean that you will get better," said the former journalist of Canal +, high stature and build of rugby player.

"A partner can say: + Wait, you made a call and you got no answer. Why are you asking me to pay so much?", Illustrated the former viceroy of football, dismissed in 2016 and suspended for ten years of any activity related to the discipline.

In this context, beIN has become a global sports giant by buying the channel that broadcast the 2014 World Cup, then knocking out the local market for the rights of the 2018 and 2022 Worlds, with the "firm will" to continue in this direction , said the defendant.

- 'Private' arrangement -

Its rise in power accompanied that of Qatar's sports diplomacy, which made this sector an instrument of international influence by winning the organization of the World-2022 at the end of 2010, before buying PSG a year later via a sovereign fund. .

Denying any "corruptive pact" with Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, Jérôme Valcke therefore tried to dissociate the negotiations around TV rights from his "friendly" relations with the boss of beIN and the Parisian club, when he was looking for "a solution" to acquire a villa on the Sardinian Emerald Coast.

"I did not promise anything, and I did not do anything within the framework of this negotiation, which could be linked in one way or another to this discussion of a private nature", hammered Mr. Valcke, assuring that he played no role in discussions with beIN.

After a meeting between the two leaders at the Paris headquarters of beIN, on October 24, 2013, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi had bought the "Villa Bianca" for 5 million euros via a company, whose shares he had transferred to the brother of a of his staff, before making it available to Mr. Valcke.

Mr. Al-Khelaïfi, who should be questioned from Wednesday in Bellinzona, is for his part prosecuted for "instigation of unfair management" and also risks five years in prison.

The charge of "private corruption" was dropped by the prosecution because of an agreement at the end of January between Fifa and the Qatari leader, who has the rank of minister.

© 2020 AFP