FIFA arrests cast pall on IMG coup
SPORTS marketing giants IMG have embarrassingly received plaudits for winning TV rights to the 2016 Copa America tournament from the two FIFA chiefs arrested yesterday on suspicion of accepting millions of dollars in bribes.
Honduran Alfredo Hawit, acting president of CONCACAF, and Paraguay’s Juan Angel Napout, president of CONMEBOL – the two confederations that provide the 16 nations who compete in the Copa America – were picked up in dawn raids at the Baur au Lac Hotel in Zurich by Swiss police acting on instructions from the US Department of Justice.
It came only a day after they had welcomed IMG on board for the centenary edition of the prestigious tournament, to be held in the USA next year. Hawit said: ‘We are proud of the (tender) process and the large interest it attracted. It will ensure soccer fans around the globe enjoy what we expect to be a once in a lifetime event.’
Napout added: ‘This is the first time CONMEBOL has played a part in this type of process, which we will continue to implement. This commitment is an integral part of the governance reforms taking place at CONMEBOL in order to ensure transparency.’
The timing could hardly have been more unfortunate but a spokesman for IMG said: ‘We are a professional and transparent organisation who won a transparent tender. The two people arrested were not on the committee who ran the tender process.’
CONCACAF have now lost three leaders in quick succession, with Jack Warner, Jeffrey Webb and now Hawit all being charged by the US Department of Justice.
And by delicious coincidence, yesterday’s arrests came on the day FIFA had scheduled their Christmas party.
THE
fact that four out of the five candidates for the FIFA presidency attended the clubs world forum in Paris was seen as a sign that the new FIFA would reach out to club football. Then came the revelation of the 40-team World Cup plans, which the leagues will detest. SUNDERLAND manager Sam Allardyce (right) is staying in the same Wearside hotel that his predecessor Dick Advocaat made his base. If Big Sam wins another couple of matches, he should ask to be upgraded to the superior accommodation Advocaat enjoyed.
ANDY
GRAY has made his first step towards a possible return to English football by agreeing to work occasionally for Aston Villa’s club TV channel. Gray, who left Sky Sports after the sexism scandal in 2011 sparked by his off-camera comment about female assistant referee Sian Massey, has been working for BeIn Sport in Doha for the last three years. He struck up a relationship with Villa chief executive Tom Fox after meeting at the FA Cup final last May.