The US Department of Justice returns to FIFA 171 million euros "looted"


The US Department of Justice has awarded the International Football Association Foundation “FIFA” compensation worth 171 million euros against the background of violations committed by former managers who occupied the highest positions in the world of football, according to what the International Federation of the game announced.

These compensations come mainly after the famous corruption scandal "Vivagate", which resulted on May 27, 2015 by the Swiss authorities' arrest of seven officials of the International Federation in a luxury hotel in the city of Zurich, in a series of scandals that shook the highest international football body and led to the overthrow of big heads. In it, especially the Swiss Joseph Sepp Blatter, who has held the presidency of "FIFA" since 1998.

"This money was taken from the bank accounts of the officials involved and prosecuted for corruption," FIFA said in its statement, noting that this amount would be used to finance "football projects that have a positive impact on the global scale."

For his part, the president of the Swiss International Federation, Gianni Infantino, praised the decision in a statement, saying, "I am pleased to see the money illegally looted by football is now returning to him to use it wisely, as it should have always been."

This decision comes after a storm of corruption that toppled the world of football after the discovery of the system of bribery and "extortion" organized by football officials in South and Central America, in exchange for granting television broadcasting rights to football competitions, including the Copa America.

The decisions issued by the US judicial authorities in the context of the “Vivagate” scandal resulted in the sentencing of the President of the South American Football Association (CONMEBOL) and the former Vice President of “FIFA”, the Paraguayan Juan Angel Napout, to nine years in prison, as well as a four-year prison sentence to the former administrator of the Federation. Brazilian Jose Maria Marin. 

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news