By Paul Nicholson in New York
November 5 – The US Department of Justice assault on FIFA has not been motivated by sour grapes over failing to win the bid for the 2022 World Cup, said former US attorney journal Eric Holder who was part of the initial investigation but left his post in April, before the arrests in Zurich and indictments were announce last May.
Holder, who was part of the US delegation that bid for the 2022 rights, said the the investigation “was not a function of the US not getting the World Cup. It was done on a legitimate basis and was a worldwide co-operation.”
While the Swiss co-operated with the arrests of the individuals, it is understood that the British legal authorities also took an active role in the investigation, while there was also some support from South American and Caribbean nations.
“If you look at soccer worldwide it is a huge entity and has a business that is of no less interest to law enforcement than any other business,” said Holder.
Speaking at the Securing Sport 2015 conference in New York organised by the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), Holder was asked if he saw FIFA president Sepp Blatter at some point being in US custody. “It is hard to say,” he replied. “I am sure the investigation is thorough. No-one is exempt because of their position.”
As regards a World Cup in Qatar and questions over the heat, Holder seemed unaware that the tournament had now been moved to winter rather than summer, saying that the Qataris had said they could air condition the stadiums. “I hope they will be able to do what they said they were capable of doing.”
Air conditioned stadiums will unlikely be needed in 2022 because of the date switch to winter. But Holder’s comment perhaps more reflected the general US disconnection with what is happening in football in the rest of the world. It can be reported though that the conference, organised by the ICSS which is, ironically, backed by Qatar, had no problem with air conditioning on what was a warm autumnal day in New York.
Asked about whether the US Department of Justice should have done more to go after Lance Armstrong, particularly in light of their vigorous pursuit of FIFA, Holder said that he felt that a criminal sanction for Armstrong as an individual was not appropriate and that he was already being penalised. The difference is that “FIFA is a worldwide entity. We are going after an organisation.”
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