By Paul Nicholson
October 5 – US Ambassador to Switzerland Suzan LeVine (pictured) has emphasised that all those arrested in the corruption scandals engulfing FIFA had US links or US citizenship, seemingly offering an explanation to the Swiss public as to why the US justice authorities have acted so invasively in Swiss territory.
In an interview with Swiss French-language paper Le Matin, she said: “I want to direct your attention to the fact that all the persons arrested were directly linked to the US one way or the other. Either because they were of American nationality, or because the transactions took place on US soil.”
At the end of May Swiss police, acting on behalf of the US Department of Justice, arrested seven FIFA officials at their hotels, prior to the start of FIFA’s annual Congress in Zurich. Swiss public opinion has questioned the involvement of the US in the sovereign state with a growing feeling that the US were making the governing decisions and not the Swiss.
LeVine’s comment also fuels the debate as to whether this is primarily a US scandal or a FIFA one. The definition may be partly academic (not even FIFA is denying that reform is needed), but it is importantly so.
FIFA has consistently maintained that it can’t be responsible for the commercial activities of confederations and especially for events that it is does not organise, run or commercially benefit from. FIFA can sanction individuals for actions that are detrimental to football, wherever they take place.
What LeVine is acknowledging is that there is a US culpability and that the country is taking action to rectify the situation. FIFA is, presumably, trying to do the same within its own reform process, quite separately from the Swiss Attorney General who seems to have suddenly discovered a new pet project after years of inaction in ever-growing anti-FIFA allegations by MPs and Swiss media.
She goes on to say that the US investigation is good for football worldwide. “But in substance, it is helping a sport appreciated by hundreds of millions of people around the world, including many children. Football is part of their lives, and deserves the title of being a clean sport.” Maybe the USA are a good priority target to investigate then? The soccer mums would certainly be pleased (if they have ever heard of FIFA).
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