Nasser Al-Khelaifi at Roland-Garros in October 2020. -

CHRISTOPHE SAIDI / SIPA

BeIN Media and PSG boss Nasser Al-Khelaïfi was acquitted on Friday in Switzerland in a television rights case, while ex-FIFA number 2 Jérôme Valcke escapes prison and receives a 120-day fine with stay on a secondary charge.

In this case, the first of multiple scandals in world football to result in a judgment in Switzerland, the two men were accused of having concluded a pact behind the back of Fifa, falling under "unfair management" and liable to five years from prison.

Support against villa

At the end of ten days of hearing in September, the prosecution had requested 28 months of imprisonment against the boss of beIN and PSG, 3 years against Jérôme Valcke and 30 months against a Greek businessman, Dinos Deris, who has was acquitted Friday of the count of "private corruption".

In all three cases, the prosecution had requested that the sentences be accompanied by a partial suspension.

For parquet, Jérôme Valcke had monetized his support for beIN in exchange for the “exclusive use” of a luxury villa on the Sardinian Emerald Coast, bought for him 5 million euros at the end of 2013 by a company briefly owned by Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.

Bribes?

The former secretary general of Fifa admitted to having requested the assistance of the Qatari leader to finance the "Villa Bianca", a few months before the signing in April 2014 of a contract between beIN and the football body relating to the rights in North Africa and the Middle East of the 2026 and 2030 Worlds.

But for the defendants, completely cleared in this section, these two episodes have “nothing to do”: they both evoked a “private” arrangement, ensuring that paying bribes does not would have made no sense since beIN, the only one in contention, paid a very high amount of which Fifa has never complained.

Valcke sentenced in a second case

Having become a global sports rights giant, the Qatari channel has in fact spent $ 480 million for two World Cups, 60% more than for the 2018 and 2022 Worlds, a contract described by Jérôme Valcke as "amazing", " fantastic ”,“ sublime for Fifa ”.

In a second file attached to the same hearing, Jérôme Valcke was sentenced to a 120-day suspended fine for "forgery in the titles", but acquitted of the charge of "private corruption", after having touched 1.25 million euros from Dinos Deris.

Sport

FIFAgate: "I was a victim of my kindness" ... Sepp Blatter was really born before shame

Sport

Fifa: Qatar, Blatter-Platini, Infantino… World football at the heart of multiple surveys

  • Sport

  • Soccer

  • Trial

  • FIFA

  • Nasser Al-Khelaïfi