On February 26, 2016, FIFA elected Gianni Infantio as the new president replacing Sepp Blatter. Infantio previously served as the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) General Secretary.
President Gianni Infantino after being elected FIFA President. CREDIT: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-27/australia-excited-for-promise-of-fifa-president-infantino/7205380
The election of Infantio comes after a three year investigation leading to indictments of 14 people involved with FIFA and sports firms by the U.S. Justice Department.
“The most serious are the racketeering charges, which allege that the officials turned soccer ‘into a criminal enterprise.'”
Led by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, 47-counts indictment were unsealed and addressed to the public.
14 People Indicted Over FIFA Scandal CREDIT: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/32998735
U.S. Attorney General Lynch stated, “The most serious are the racketeering charges, which allege that the officials turned soccer ‘into a criminal enterprise.'” To many, the corruption of FIFA came as no surprise, but the Justice Department being able to have enough evidence for a case. Evidence was a hard thing to come by in the past with the corruption in FIFA. Although Sepp Blatter was able to keep his name out of the indictments, FIFA executives and sponsors led the charge into making changes at the top. Although FIFA will not change the sites of the 2018 World Cup in Russia and 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA looks to end their corrupt ways of awarding bids to the World Cup.
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