Top officials of FIFA arrested over corruption charges

On 27th May, 2015, the soccer world was rocked when Swiss police rounded up several FIFA officials accused of taking part in a massive corruption scandal, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

More than a dozen plainclothed officers descended on the five-star Baur au Lac hotel on Wednesday, where officials had gathered for Fifa’s annual meeting.

The arrests were made on behalf of US authorities, after an FBI investigation that has been under way for at least three years. The US Department of Justice said authorities had charged 14 officials, nine of whom are current or former Fifa executives. Those arrested in Zurich face extradition to the US

“They were expected to uphold the rules that keep soccer honest. Instead they corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and enrich themselves,” said the US attorney general, Loretta Lynch, at a news conference in New York.

“They did this over and over, year after year, tournament after tournament.” Events tainted by corruption included the award of the 2010 World Cup to South Africa and the 2011 Fifa presidential election, she said.

Sepp Blatter's resignation and ban

On May 29, Sepp Blatter won re-election to the FIFA presidency at the 65th FIFA Congress in Zurich amid growing criticism over his position. Four days later, however, he announced that he would continue as president only until a new election would be conducted at a 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress on February 26, 2016. Blatter said that he would not be a candidate for election at that time. Blatter maintained "I did not resign, I put myself and my office in the hands of the Fifa congress."

Upon the decision of the FIFA Adjudicatory Chamber of the Independent Ethics Committee to provisionally ban Blatter, FIFA recognizes Issa Hayatou as the interim president of FIFA in accordance with article 32 (6) of the FIFA Statutes