International Football
SHOCK REVELATION IN COURT: FIFA OFFICIAL TOOK BRIBES TO BACK QATAR’S 2022 WORLD CUP BID
The Guardian of UK has reported that an Argentine senior FIFA official, Julio Grondona, took at least $1m in bribes to vote for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup.
The publication reported that a witness make the revelation in court, as part of a broad investigation into corruption at FIFA.
Grondona who was a senior vice-president at FIFA and head of the Argentina Football Association until his death in 2014, allegedly told the witness, Alejandro Burzaco, an Argentinian sports marketing executive, that he was owed the money in exchange for his vote, which helped Qatar secure the lucrative tournament.
Qatar’s victory, announced in December 2010 after four rounds of knockout voting by FIFA’s 22-person executive committee in Zurich, has been plagued with allegations of bribery and misconduct.
The sworn testimony, given in a New York City court on Tuesday, is some of the strongest evidence the 2022 vote was tainted.
Burzaco, the former CEO of the Argentinian sports marketing executive Torneos y Competencias, has already pleaded guilty to handing out millions of dollars in bribes to senior South American football officials in exchange for broadcast rights to major regional tournaments.
His testimony on Tuesday alleges a sustained program of annual and one-off bribes, often over $1m a time, to a group of influential executives on South America’s footballing body, Conmebol, over a period of around a decade.
Burzaco testified that while he was arranging a $1m bribe payment to Grondona and another $1m bribe to another senior FIFA executive, Ricardo Teixeira, Grondona informed Burzaco he had taken a bribe for his World Cup vote.
In total, the former executive said, he had arranged $15m in bribes for securing the rights to Copa America, which at that point were held by a rival marketing company.
Burzaco said that Grondona told him in January 2011 to also pay him Teixeria’s $1m Copa America bribe, which the Brazilian “owed him” as “Grondona voted for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup”.
The marketing executive had accompanied Grondona, Teixeria and Nicolás Leoz, then the Conmebol president, to Zurich for the vote in 2010 and had heard of their intention to back Qatar. “It was not a private thing,” Burzaco said.
As the voting got under way, Burcazo said Grondona told him that Leoz had initially voted for Japan and then South Korea.
During a break, he and Teixeria then pulled Leoz aside to “shake him up” and ask: “What the hell are you doing? Are you the one not voting for Qatar?” When the officials returned for the next vote, Leoz backed Qatar, Burcazo said.
The former marketing executive said that Grondona had not told him the total amount of money he accepted to make the Qatar vote or who the source of the bribe was.
But he claimed to have witnessed an altercation between Grondona and Qatari officials at a FIFA event months later where the football executive was furious at news reports implicating him in corrupt dealings and insinuated he had been underpaid for his vote.
“Basically, Grondona told them [the Qatari officials]: you will pay me $80m or write a letter saying you never paid me,” Burcazo said.
Burcazo’s evidence portrayed the Argentinian executive as a kingmaker in Conmebol’s allegedly corrupt enterprise.
The marketing executive said Grondona personally approved the bribes he and five other senior Conmebol officials were paid for regional tournament rights, often dictating the amounts – frequently seven-figure sums – and taking cuts for himself.
Burcazo would frequently travel with Grondona from Argentina to Conmebol’s headquarters in Luque in Paraguay, where “three or four Mercedes” would wait for them by the runway and take them straight from the plane, allowing them to skip customs, as “someone would take care of that”.
When Grondona arrived at the headquarters, Leoz would fly “forty or fifty Argentine flags around the building” to greet him. Teixeria, who resigned as president of Brazil’s federation amid corruption allegations in 2012, would receive the same treatment.
Burzaco’s testimony, which is expected to continue into Wednesday, also implicated the three former football executives, José Maria Marin, Manuel Burga and Juan Ángel Napout, currently on trial.
The three former officials, some of whom went on to replace Grondona, Teixeria and Leoz at the head of Conmebol, deny their role in the 24-year scheme involving at least $150m in bribes.
As his testimony commenced on Tuesday morning, Burzaco was asked to point out the three defendants in the courtroom while testifying that he bribed all of them.
The witness described a series of meeting at hotels and restaurants in Buenos Aires starting in 2012 in which he helped strike deals for annual six-figure bribes for Marin, who replaced Teixeria as president of Brazil’s soccer federation; Burga, former president of Peru’s soccer federation; and Napout, ex-head of Paraguay’s soccer federation.
After one meeting where arrangements were made to wire Marin a portion of a $2m bribe, Marin “gave me a hug and showed me his gratitude”, Burzaco said. At another, Burga “told me he was happy collecting the bribes”, he said.
After being charged in 2015, following a morning raid on a hotel in Zurich, Burzaco testified that he briefly went into hiding before deciding to turn himself in and cooperate.
“I said, ‘Alejandro, you go to the United States and face justice,’” he said about the decision. “‘Accept responsibility.’”
The former marketing executive also claimed that several of the region’s best-known broadcasters that he had partnered with had paid bribes to football officials to secure rights to games.
This included Fox Sports, partnered with Burzaco in the T&T sports marketing company, which owned the rights to the Copa Libertadores. Fox held a 75% share of T&T from 2005, Burzaco said.
The court was presented with a sham contract written by T&T Sports and signed by the former Fox Pan American Sports chief operating officer James Ganley, which Burzaco said created to pay out $3.7m in bribes to Conmebol officials to keep the rights to the tournament.
Fox Sports denied that the company had been aware of or approved bribes, saying in a statement: “Fox Sports had no operational control of the entity which Burzaco ran.
The entity run by Burzaco was a subsidiary of Fox Pan American Sports, which in 2008, at the time of the contract in question, was majority owned by a private equity firm and under their operational and management control.”
Soccer chiefs from Europe and South America will hold a final meeting before a Thursday deadline to decide whether and where this month’s “Finalissima” between Spain and Argentina will be played, with London emerging as the leading candidate after doubts over Doha, multiple sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
The match between European champions Spain and Copa America holders Argentina had been scheduled for March 27 at Lusail Stadium in Doha.
However, it has become increasingly unlikely that Qatar will host the fixture after the Qatar Football Association suspended soccer tournaments indefinitely following U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliatory missiles fired at the Arabian Peninsula.
The Spanish FA (RFEF) has been pushing for a swift resolution, mindful that the March international break is viewed as vital preparation ahead of the June-July World Cup in North America.
“I know that negotiations are underway,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente told Spanish Public Radio (RNE) on Monday. “The first thing, as a society, is to stop the conflict, but once you are immersed in it and you don’t know how long it will last, the solution would be, as long as you can’t play there, to find another venue as soon as possible.
Wembley Stadium staged the previous edition in 2022, when Argentina beat Italy, but it is set to host England v Uruguay on March 27. London, however, has other stadiums capable of staging the showpiece, leaving the English capital as the most likely alternative should Doha be ruled out, sources confirmed.
ALTERNATIVE OPPONENTS CONSIDERED
While keen to face Argentina and high-profile players such as Lionel Messi, sources told Reuters that Spain had made clear their priority was not to waste the last window of international fixtures before the World Cup and they were already contemplating alternative opponents.
With Spain also due to face Egypt three days later, any change would require agreement between the RFEF and European soccer body UEFA, South American confederation CONMEBOL, global governing body FIFA and the Argentine FA (AFA).
The RFEF, AFA and UEFA did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
A spokesperson for South American confederation CONMEBOL told Reuters that several meetings between the parties had taken place in recent days but did not confirm Thursday’s deadline or London as the preferred venue.
Madrid was initially proposed by the RFEF but rejected by the AFA, who preferred a neutral venue rather than giving Spain home advantage.
Morocco offered to stage the game, but the RFEF was unwilling to back their Mediterranean neighbours amid tensions behind the scenes over the 2030 World Cup, which Spain, Morocco and Portugal will co-host. Both Spain and Morocco are campaigning to stage the final.
Miami was also considered, with Messi based there at Inter Miami, but Hard Rock Stadium is hosting the Miami Open tennis tournament at the same time.
-Reuters
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International Football
Spain-Argentina ‘Finalissima’ in Qatar at risk amid US, Israel attacks on Iran
The match between Spain and Argentina, tagged “Finalissima” in Doha, is in doubt after the Qatar Football Association suspended soccer tournaments indefinitely following U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliatory missiles fired at the Arabian Peninsula.
The contest between European Championship winners Spain and Copa America champions Argentina was scheduled for March 27 at Doha’s Lusail Stadium, with potential big-name draws including Lamine Yamal and Lionel Messi.
“Qatar Football Association announces the postponement of all tournaments, competitions and matches, effective from today and until further notice,” the association said in a statement on Sunday.
“The new dates for the resumption of competitions will be announced in due course through the Association’s official channels.”
The final call on whether to postpone the game rests with event organisers UEFA and CONMEBOL.
The Bahrain Football Association postponed all its matches until further notice, while the Asian Football Confederation on Sunday announced it was delaying Champions League Elite fixtures in the region.
The Asian Champions League Two, currently at the quarter-final stage, has also been impacted, along with games in the Challenge League.
Countries across the Middle East have been on high alert since Saturday, when the U.S. and Israel launched air strikes against Iran, aimed at diminishing Iran’s military capability.
Iran retaliated by attacking U.S. targets around the region, including in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
On Sunday, Qatar’s interior ministry reported a fire in an industrial zone after debris fell from an intercepted missile.
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International Football
Iran Conflict Casts Uncertainty Over Super Eagles’ Four-Nation Tournament Opener
Nigeria’s Super Eagles may face fresh uncertainty ahead of their scheduled participation in a Four-Nation Invitational Tournament in Amman, Jordan, following reports that Iran — their intended first opponents — is now at war after attacks by the United States and Israel.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had earlier confirmed that the Super Eagles would compete in the mini-tournament during the FIFA Men’s International Window in March 2026. The competition is slated to run from March 27 to 31 in the Jordanian capital.
Under the original fixture schedule, Nigeria were due to open the tournament on Friday, March 27 against Iran’s senior national team at the 17,000-capacity Amman International Stadium. Hosts Jordan were set to face Costa Rica the same day at the 62,000-capacity King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
However, the escalating military confrontation involving Iran has cast serious doubt over the participation of the Iranian national team and the viability of the opening fixture.
While tournament organisers in Jordan have yet to issue an official statement regarding possible changes, the developing security situation is expected to force urgent consultations between the participating federations, tournament organisers and FIFA.
The competition was designed to provide competitive match exposure during a window initially reserved for the intercontinental play-off for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Nigeria’s inclusion in the tournament had already generated debate at home, with observers questioning whether the NFF’s commitment signalled a shift in focus away from potential qualification disputes.
The new geopolitical crisis further complicates matters. International conflicts often trigger travel restrictions, airspace closures and security advisories that can directly affect national teams’ ability to assemble and travel.
Should Iran withdraw or be unable to participate, organisers may be compelled to seek a replacement team or adjust the fixture format entirely.
Nigeria are scheduled to face hosts Jordan on March 31 in their second match of the tournament, while Costa Rica and Iran were originally billed to meet the same day at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
Kick-off times for the four fixtures had yet to be officially announced before the outbreak of hostilities.
For the Super Eagles, the tournament was seen as an opportunity to build cohesion and test tactical adjustments ahead of future competitive engagements. Now, attention will turn to whether the event can proceed as planned — and whether Nigeria’s opening match will require a late reshuffle.
The NFF is expected to monitor developments closely and may issue further clarification in the coming days as the regional and international situation evolves.
Meanwhile, Reuters has quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead. But the Iranians have dismissed the claim, saying that the leader is ‘firmly commanding the field’. Both Israel and the US launched strikes on Iran.
President Donald Trump says action will give Iranians a chance to topple their rulers. Hits were reported in Israel and Gulf states as Iran retaliated. The attack has triggered fear and panics as as Iranians flee cities.
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