Chuck Blazer admitted to the United States Justice Department what many have suspected all along: He and other members of FIFA’s Executive Committee took bribes during the process of awarding hosting rights for recent FIFA World Cups.
The DOJ published Blazer’s 2013 testimony Wednesday, revealing his admission to taking bribes himself and facilitating them for others during the awarding of the 1998 and 2010 World Cups, according to Sky Sports.
“I agreed with other persons in or around 1992 to facilitate the acceptance of a bribe in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup,” Blazer said, according to the DOJ.
Blazer also admitted to accepting bribes regarding the CONCACAF Gold Cup — the regional championship for nations in North and Central America and the Carribean.
“In and around 1993 and continuing through the early 2000s I and others agreed to accept bribes and kickbacks in conjunction with the broadcast and other rights to the 1996, ’98, 2000, 2002 and 2003 Gold Cups.”
The DOJ indicted 14 people last week on charges of fraud, racketeering and other corruption. The testimony of Blazer, who previously had been charged, is central to the United States’ corruption charges against other FIFA officials. The DOJ alleges defendants accepted bribes worth more than $150 million over a 24-year period beginning in 1990.
Blazer, 70, served as CONCACAF’s general secretary from April 1990 to December 2011. He also served on FIFA’s Executive Committee from 1997 until he stepped down in 2013.
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Thumbnail photo via Bernd Kammerer/Associated Press
