‘Our goal is to lock up World Cup grubs’

LAUSANNE: Swiss prosecutors have called for French football club Paris Saint-Germain’s president, Nasser AlKhelaifi, and former FIFA No.2 Jerome Valcke to be jailed for alleged corruption in the allocation of World Cup TV rights.

The prosecution called for a 28-month sentence for AlKhelaifi, who is also president of beIN Media, and three years for Valcke as their trial in the Swiss town of Bellinzona moved into its final days, the Swiss news agency Keystone ATS reported.

This is the first time prison sentences have been requested in a European court in trials relating to scandals in world football, although former officials from the Americas have served time in the US.

The Swiss Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona has been trying Valcke on two charges related to his quest for money to maintain what federal prosecutor Joel Pahud called a “spendthrift” lifestyle.

Al-Khelaifi (pictured) was included in the first charge.

The public prosecutor’s office said Valcke sought the Qataris’ help in the summer of 2003 to buy a luxury villa in Sa Sardinia, at a time when beIN, a Qatari-owned broadcaster, wa was negotiating to extend its me media rights in North Africa an and the Middle East for the 2 2026 and 2030 World Cups.

The public prosecutor said Al-Khelaifi acquired the house for €5m ($8.2m) via a company that was transferred almost immediately to the brother of one of his close collaborators, before it was then made available to Valcke.

The two men said the deal was a “private” arrangement, unrelated to the contract concluded by beIN with FIFA in April 2014.

Valcke complained in court how he had struggled “with no income” since losing his job as Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man and had been forced to sell his yacht and jewellery.

“Without work, and with a family, I assure you the money burns very quickly,” he said.