Amid the U.S. Department of Justice’s indictment of nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives for racketeering, Prince William of Wales has urged sponsors and the regional confederations to press for reform saying, “we are doing football [soccer] and its fans no favors if we do not.”
On May 27, a 47-count indictment was unsealed in the federal courts of Brooklyn, which accused Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) of racketeering, wire fraud and money fraud, among many other offenses.
The Department of Justice’s press release sated that the defendants had participated “in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly T. Currie said, “Today’s announcement should send a message that enough is enough. After decades of what the indictment alleges to be brazen corruption, organized international soccer needs a new start — a new chance for its governing institutions to provide honest oversight and support of a sport that is beloved across the world, increasingly so here in the United States. Let me be clear: this indictment is not the final chapter in our investigation.”
