SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
International football governing body, FIFA has been shell-shocked this week following the charges made against 9 senior ranking officials with regards to bribery and corruption by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation Unit.
The charged officials are accused of taking in excess of $150 million in bribes stretching back 24 years. US prosecutors said the officials conspired with sports marketing executives to “shut out competitors and keep highly lucrative contracts for themselves through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks”.
Furthermore, The US IRS has published a 161 page dossier detailing corruption and bribery within the FIFA organisation, initiatives and sanctioned events.
Despite being at the centre of FIFA’s biggest corruption accusations, FIFA president Sepp Blatter will stand for re-election in a vote later today, aiming to win his fifth term as leader of world football’s governing body.
FIFA maintains that no corruption charges have been made against the FIFA president, and that Blatter still has the support of many officials within the governing body.
UK betting exchange Betfair has published that Blatter remains a 1/2 favourite to keep his presidency. The leadership of FIFA is set to be a two horse race between Blatter and main rival Prince Ali Al-Hussein the 13/8 outsider second placed favourite.
The FIFA Presidency election is set to take place between 16:00 – 17:00 CET today
