Football
ESPN staff 8y

FIFA timeline: Blatter and Platini banned, more officials arrested

Two more FIFA officials have been arrested in another predawn raid of the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich on suspicion "of accepting bribes of millions of dollars." Here is a look at the key events that have taken place in the FIFA corruption scandal since it began with the first of raids back in May.

May 27: In Zurich, Swiss authorities arrest seven top FIFA officials, including current vice presidents Jeffrey Webb and Eugenio Figueredo.

Charges allege widespread corruption throughout football's governing body over the past 20 years, involving bids for World Cups, as well as marketing and broadcast deals. Hours later, Swiss federal prosecutors opened criminal proceedings related to the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

On the same day, former FIFA executive and CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer is among four men to plead guilty in a 2013 U.S. corruption investigation involving bribes totalling more than $100 million.

In response, FIFA president Sepp Blatter releases a statement in which he welcomes the probe to root out wrongdoing.

May 29: After Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein withdraws ahead of a second round of voting, Blatter is re-elected as president of FIFA, extending a reign that began in 1998.

June 1: U.S. authorities say FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke allegedly made $10 million in payments through former FIFA executive committee member Jack Warner in exchange for votes for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup. It is added that when South Africa's football federation were unable to pay the bribe, FIFA delivered the amount to Warner instead.

June 2: Four days after winning the election, Blatter resigns and says an election will be held shortly to appoint his successor. The date is later confirmed as Feb. 26, 2016. 

June 3: Blazer says he and others took bribes for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup in a testimony published by the United States Department of Justice. Blazer claims he facilitated a bribe in the awarding of the 1998 World Cup, held in France.

June 4: FIFA admits paying the Football Association of Ireland $5m as compensation for the Thierry Henry handball in a 2009 World Cup playoff.

June 10: FIFA postpones the announcement of the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup.

June 15: It emerges that Blazer was working undercover for the FBI for 18 months while a member of FIFA's executive committee. He is later banned from all football-related activity for life.

July 20: British comedian Simon Brodkin embarrasses Blatter during a news conference by showering the FIFA president with fake money.

July 24: Valcke discloses he will step down as FIFA secretary general in February.

July 29: UEFA president Michel Platini announces he will stand for the FIFA presidency.

Aug. 7: FIFA announces it has opened an internal investigation into corruption allegations that have blighted soccer's governing body.

Aug. 9: Chung Mong-joon, a former FIFA vice president, states his intention to stand for the presidency. 

Sept. 9: Prince Ali confirms his decision to run for the presidency.

Sept. 14: U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch predicts a new round of indictments in a widening investigation.

Sept. 16: A FIFA staffer at the center of an internal investigation into an alleged attempt to discredit Platini leaves the scandal-plagued governing body. 

Sept. 17: Valcke is put on leave and released from duties after allegations he was implicated in a ticketing scandal.

Sept. 25: Swiss prosecutors open criminal proceedings against Blatter, who is suspected of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation. Blatter denies wrongdoing through his U.S. attorney.

Oct. 7: FIFA's ethics committee reportedly recommends that Blatter is suspended. The investigatory chamber of the ethics committee advised a 90-day ban, but it still has to be confirmed by Judge Hans-Joachim Eckert of the adjudicatory chamber.

Oct. 8: FIFA's ethics committee confirms it has provisionally banned Blatter, Platini and Valcke from all football activities for 90 days. FIFA presidential candidate Chung is also handed a six-year ban.

Oct. 9: Blatter lodges an appeal against his 90-day ban imposed by FIFA's ethics committee.

Oct. 9: Switzerland's justice ministry grants an American request to extradite a former assistant to CONCACAF's Webb in the FIFA bribery case.

Oct. 10: Platini lodges an appeal with FIFA against a 90-day suspension from world football that is thwarting his hopes of standing for the presidency. 

Oct. 12: Worawi Makudi, the president of Thailand FA, becomes the latest official to be suspended by FIFA's ethics committee for 90 days subject to an investigation.

Oct. 14: FIFA suspends South African football official Lindile Kika for six years as part of a match-fixing investigation involving friendly games ahead of the 2010 World Cup.

Oct. 16: Blatter says a £1.35m payment to Platini that has seen the pair provisionally suspended by FIFA's ethics committee was part of a "gentleman's agreement" between the two of them.

Oct. 20: FIFA decides to stick with its presidential election date on Feb. 26, as uncertainty surrounded Platini's candidacy.

Oct. 21: FIFA confirms that Germany great Franz Beckenbauer and senior vice president Angel Maria Villar have been investigated for wrongdoing and their cases have been passed to the adjudicatory chamber for a verdict by the ethics judge.

Nov. 10: The FIFA ethics committee says it will study Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko's role in his country's damaging doping scandal.

Nov. 11: Blatter suffers a "small emotional breakdown," having been admitted to hospital in Zurich for a checkup due to stress.

Nov. 12: FIFA confirms the five candidates for the body's presidential election, with Liberian football association chief Musa Bility's candidature rejected.

Nov. 13: Villar warned and fined 25,000 Swiss francs ($25,000) for misconduct during the 2018-2022 World Cup bid investigation.

Nov. 16: Ganesh Thapa, president of the All-Nepal FA and a former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) vice president, banned for 10 years for bribery by FIFA's ethics committee.

Nov. 18: Blatter and Platini lose appeals against 90-day bans for alleged financial wrongdoing.

Nov. 20: Platini lodges an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against his 90-day ban.

Nov. 27: Brazilian Football Confederation president Marco Polo del Nero steps down from FIFA's executive committee and will be replaced by Fernando Sarney. Later he is investigated over marketing deals he made.

Dec 1: Five of FIFA's sponsors write to the executive committee of football's scandal-battered governing body demanding "independent oversight" of the reform process.

Dec 2: Swiss officials tell ESPN FC that it will be at least five years before any cases are brought to court from its investigations against Blatter and alleged corruption in the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Dec 3: Two FIFA officials are arrested in another predawn raid of the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich on suspicion "of accepting bribes of millions of dollars," the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) announced.

Dec. 21: FIFA's ethics committee bans Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini for eight years years from all football-related activities.

Information from the Press Association was used in this report.

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