14 Fifa officials indicted over £65m Bribery case - 6 Arrested by FBI - Includes Vice President

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• Six football officials were arrested on Wednesday by Swiss police
  FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb among those detained in 6am raid
  Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner is among 14 indicted
  Nine of those on FBI indictment list are FIFA officials
  Case involves bribes 'totaling more than $100m (£65m)' linked to deals in North and Latin American dating back to the 1990s
  President of world governing body Blatter not among men arrested
  Blatter's presidential opponent Prince Ali: 'This is a sad day for football'
  FIFA will hold a news conference at 10am BST

Six football officials including FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb were arrested and detained after a raid at a luxury hotel by Swiss police on Wednesday pending extradition at the request of US authorities.

The case involves bribes 'totaling more than $100m (£65m)' linked to commercial deals dating back to the 1990s for football tournaments in the United States and Latin America.

The officials are in Switzerland for the FIFA congress and presidential election, where Sepp Blatter is widely expected to win a fifth term at the helm of the governing body of world football.

Blatter was not among the men arrested, FIFA spokesman Walter de Gregorio said, but vice president Webb was.

Among the other FIFA members arrested in the dawn raid were Eugenio Figueredo, the Uruguayan football executive, who was due to stand down from the world governing body after Friday election.


The third known arrest was Eduardo Li, President of the Costa Rica Football Association. Li was led from the hotel via a side entrance with a sheet covering his head.

He is about to join the FIFA Executive Committee.

The indictment, seen by the New York Times, listed 14 names. The football officials charged are Webb, Figueredo, Li, Jack Warner, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, Jose Maria Marin and Nicolas Leoz.

Charges are also expected against the sports marketing executives Alejandro Burzaco, Aaron Davidson, Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis.

The authorities have also charged Jose Marguiles as an 'intermediary who facilitated illegal payments.'

All the charges are understood to be based on deals done in the United States dating back to the 1990s and involve charges of racketeering and money laundering.

Much of the evidence has come from Chuck Blazer, a former member of the FIFA executive committee who turned 'supergrass' for the FBI.

Blazer wore a wire tap to the London Olympic Games on behalf of the FBI in order to record meetings with colleagues.

The American publications New York Times, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal were tipped off about the raid by the FBI.

The FBI raiding party arrived at the hotel at 6am and the last arrest was of Li, who was led from the building with a sheet over his head at 6.45am.

Blatter is scheduled to attend a meeting of the Confederation of African Football at 10:30am local time in a different Zurich hotel. Precautions are being made to ensure Blatter is not mobbed by the media.

FIFA will hold a press conference about the arrests at 10am BST at their headquarters on the outskirts of Zurich.

The FBI will hold a press conference at 3.30pm British time.

FIFA Presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, reacting to the news, said: 'Today is a sad day for football. Clearly this is a developing story, the details of which are still emerging. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.'

Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke has been put on leave and released from his duties until further notice.
A Fifa statement said it had "been made aware of a series of allegations involving the secretary general".

I'm shocked.

So is Blatter. He's flabbergasted. Never knew. But he's acted quickly to maintain the dignity of the organisation.

Blatter seems to be determined to clean up the show.

Blatter's shock now turned to idignation as the Swiss Authorities are currently questioning him and

has opened "criminal proceedings" against Mr Blatter.

Wonder if he has managed to hang around long enough to destroy all evidence.