FIFA officials including vice-president Jeffrey Webb arrested and detained by Swiss police in Zurich on FBI corruption charges
- 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
- Officials suspected of having received paid bribes totalling millions
- FIFA will hold a news conference at 10am BST
Six leading football officials have been arrested and detained in a dramatic raid by Swiss police on Wednesday morning as the delegates arrived in Zurich for FIFA Congress and they are to be extradited to the United States over massive corruption allegations.
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.
FIFA officials were escorted out behind sheets at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich http://t.co/LCuxIyugth pic.twitter.com/1M8SuQMSUu
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 27, 2015
FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb is among six officials known to be arrested in a dawn raid in Zurich
Jeffrey Webb shakes hands with FIFA President Sepp Blatter at the CONCACAF confederation meeting
FIFA officials arrested at the Baur au Lac Hotel in Zurich
The Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich where a number of FIFA officials were arrested on Wednesday
The scene inside the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich on Wednesday morning following the 6am police raids
Hotel staff trying to use sheets to hide officials as they exit. pic.twitter.com/o0VFKuFnQi
— Sam Borden (@SamBorden) May 27, 2015
PROFILES OF THE FIFA OFFICIALS ARRESTED
Jeffrey Webb - FIFA vice-president and president of CONCACAF. The 50-year-old was born and lives in the Cayman Islands and is the Cayman Islands Football Association president.
Eugenio Figueredo - Former footballer and now Uruguayan FA executive. A former president of CONMEBOL, the South American football federation.
Jack Warner - Former FIFA vice-president and president of CONCACAF from Trinidad and Tobago until he resigned from all his positions in international football in 2011.
Eduardo Li - president of the Costa Rican Football Association.
Julio Rocha - president of the Nicaraguan Football Federation.
Costas Takkas - a former general secretary of the Cayman Islands Football Association.
Rafael Esquivel - president of the Venezuelan Football Federation since 1988.
Jose Maria Marin - vice-president of the Brazil Football Federation and its former president. The CBF were the football organisation who handed out controversial £16,000 Parmigiani watches at their congress in Sao Paulo a year ago, when Marin was the overlord of the association.
Nicolas Leoz - Former CONMEBOL president between 1986 and 2013. He allegedly wanted the FA Cup named after him in exchange for a vote for England in their attempts to host the 2018 World Cup.
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.
Camera crews gathered outside the five-star Baur au Lac hotel following the raids on Wednesday morning
The detained FIFA officials were led away from the luxury hotel in Zurich just after dawn
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.
Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner is one of nine football officials indicted over corruption allegations
FIFA president Sepp Blatter faces a presidential challenge from Jordan's Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein
PROFILES OF THE OTHER FIGURES ARRESTED
Alejandro Burzaco - chief executive of an Argentine sports communications firm 'Torneos y Competencias'. TyC purchased the broadcasting rights for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Aaron Davidson - chief executive of the North American Soccer League, a professional league in the US and Canada.
Hugo Jinkis - President of Full Play Group, a sports marketing company in Argentina formed in 1998.
Mariano Jinkis - Vice-president of Full Play Group, a sports marketing company in Argentina formed in 1998.
Jose Margulies - charged as an intermediary who facilitated illegal payments.
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.