Fédération internationale de football association - The dirty game: uncovering the scandal at FIFA

Contents

Foreword by Romrio:
Some nice words

Introduction:
Knock Knock

Prologue:
In Palermo learning about the Mafia

1 Welcome to Rio
Havelanges gangster friends cannot stop killing

2 Best of Friends
The crime boss and the boss of world football

3 Havelanges Golden Briefcase
Why is it so heavy when he leaves Zurich?

4 At Last! The Secret Bribes List
How Joo and Ricardo got rich

5 Looting Brazilian Football
Ricardos favourite shoemaker

6 Knifing Mandela in the Back
Bribes that took the World Cup to Germany

7 You Want World Cup Tickets?
The Brothers have plenty

8 How Blatter Keeps Power at FIFA
Sepp buys votes with FIFAs money

9 The Belly Eats FIFA
Blazers Michelin Guide to the world

10 How the Belly Flattened Warner
Then was caught by a useless journalist

11 Hildbrands Game of Two Halves
Investigating the Bribe Master and the Bagman

12 Jean-Marie Weber Must Not Be Sacked!
Why do Blatter and Havelange need him?

13 How the FIFA Crooks Got Away With It
In secret, they confess

14 Blatters Fingers Crossed Behind His Back
Says he wants to publish damning report

15 Havelange Kicked Out of the Olympics 204
The IOC did what FIFA would not

16 Marin Pointed the Finger at Vlado
Now he leads Brazilian football

17 Blatter Hires His Own Investigators
Big money to be earned, no need to hurry

18 Blatter Rewrites His Ethics Code
Now he can never be caught!

19 Blatter Digs Up His Family Coffins
He refuses to be buried near Hildbrand

20 Remember to Wave Goodbye
The Presidents game will soon be over

May 27, 2015, 6 am. KNOCK... KNOCK. Please get your clothes on and come out with your hands up... Sir. Seven overfed FIFA executives are being taken from their beds in one of the worlds most luxurious hotels, paid for by football, to concrete cells at a Zurich police station, provided by Swiss taxpayers. Hands up? Who knows for sure? FIFAs leaders are not acquainted with obeying laws, anybodys laws. Policemen must be careful.

In The Dirty Game investigative reporter and BBC Panorama presenter Andrew Jennings reveals the eye-watering level of fraud and criminal activity at the heart of one of the worlds largest sporting bodies. In a relentless quest for the truth, Jennings pursued the story for over a decade, even when most reporters and organizations were too intimidated to say a bad word about FIFA. Now, finally, after the evidence he handed to the FBI led to the FIFA arrests and the resignation of Sepp Blatter, Jennings has been vindicated. Based on years of research, and a wealth of never-before-seen documents, The Dirty Game reveals the key protagonists, crimes and evidence. From Blatter to Blazer, from bribery to embezzlement, this gripping account is the definitive portrait of the downfall of FIFA, and the men who stole football.

As always, for the fans and the bears

Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios

John Prine, Sam Stone, 1971

This is the updated and refreshed version of Omert, published as an ebook in April 2014 by the author and in Portuguese in Brazil.

Foreword by Romrio

MOST REPORTERS DO not have the courage of Andrew Jennings. He has the ability and willingness to put what is true on the page, the radio, the Internet and television.

Andrew is one of the guys within journalism for whom I have 100% respect. For all he has done in the fight against FIFA, in publishing his articles and books.

Glad to know that my work here in Congress for which he has provided me with material, has been very positive, I thank him and ask him to keep sending things to me.

Here I am not an Andrew Jennings, but Im Romrio!

I have guts like him and a lot of courage.

Romrio de Souza Faria

Former player and congressman

MAY 27, 2015 , 6 am. knock knock. Please get your clothes on and come out with your hands up Sir. Seven overfed FIFA executives are being taken from their beds in one of the worlds most luxurious hotels, paid for by football, to concrete cells at a Zurich police station, provided by Swiss taxpayers. Hands up? Who knows for sure? FIFAs leaders are not acquainted with obeying laws, anybodys laws. Policemen must be careful.

I knew it was going to happen one day but the FBI wouldnt tell me when they would pounce. More than three years earlier I had handed them the crucial FIFA documents that resulted in the dawn raid on the Baur au Lac hotel. I had to be patient. Very patient.

I knew that the evidence collected by the FBIs New York-based Eurasian Organised Crime squad was being evaluated by the Justice Department in Washington and chewed over by a Grand Jury in Eastern New York. The Brooklyn US Attorney, Ms Loretta Lynch, supervised the secret investigations over the years as they expanded around the world.

The evidence I gave the FBI in August 2011 revealed that Chuck Blazer, an American member of FIFAs leadership cabal living in fabulous opulence in Trump Tower, was stealing millions of dollars every year from FIFA and regional football. He had disappeared himself offshore to avoid paying tax. I discovered he hid his wealth in Caribbean tax havens. The FBI shared my confidential documents with the American tax authorities and, soon afterwards, the grotesquely obese Blazer was arrested in Manhattan riding his mobility scooter.

Days later, Blazer, facing the rest of his life in jail, capitulated and turned state witness, implicating dozens of other FIFA crooks also involved in soliciting bribes to grant marketing and TV rights for their football tournaments.

Blazer was shipped to the London Olympics where he secretly recorded selected FIFA officials and associated lowlifes. One plea-bargained and repaid a staggering $151 million he had siphoned off in kickbacks and skimming contracts. He agreed to wear a wire and entrapped several more prominent FIFA officials, some later arrested in Zurich.

More than a year before I gave them Blazers documents the Feds had approached me asking for help identifying some of the FIFA crooks. They had seen my TV documentaries and read my first book exposing FIFA racketeering. They knew that I knew a lot and had deep sources in FIFAs darknesses. They appeared to be investigating a money-laundering syndicate.

SHOULD A REPORTER ASSIST THE FBI? It was a no-brainer. European police forces had closed their eyes to the huge amount of evidence that I had already published and shown on TV. I was shunned by British football officials who preferred their privileges, gratefully accepted from President Blatter.