FIFA communications director Walter De Gregorio says that this week’s presidential elections will go ahead despite the arrests of FIFA officials.
Speaking in a press conference following a string of arrests at a Zurich hotel early this morning, De Gregorio said the events will go ahead as planned.
The nine officials arrested included current FIFA Vice-President Jeffrey Webb and former Vice-President Jack Warner, as well as seven others and four sports marketing executives.
FIFA communications director Walter De Gregorio says that this week’s presidential elections will go ahead despite the arrests of FIFA officials.
Speaking in a press conference following a string of arrests at a Zurich hotel early this morning, De Gregorio said the events will go ahead as planned.
The nine officials arrested included current FIFA Vice-President Jeffrey Webb and former Vice-President Jack Warner, as well as seven others and four sports marketing executives.
The officials are charged with having received millions of dollars in bribes, while a separate investigation into how the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were allocated has begun.
These developments are another blow for an organisation that has been heavily linked with corruption in recent years.
De Gregorio insisted at the press conference that he believes what has happened is good for the organisation in its attempt to reform.
“This is good for FIFA. It hurts, it’s not easy, but it confirms we are on the right track,” he said.
The US Department of Justice issued a 47-count indictment charging 14 defendants with racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud in a period going back to the 1990s.
Swiss authorities have also opened criminal proceedings over the awarding of the World Cups to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
Swiss police will question ten FIFA executive committee members who participated in voting in December 2010, while electronic data has been seized from the FIFA headquarters in Zurich.