How Did a Tiny Swiss Company Quietly Secure Valuable World Cup TV Rights?
- 7 years ago
How Did a Tiny Swiss Company Quietly Secure Valuable World Cup TV Rights?
The rights in question are also under scrutiny in Switzerland, where a statement from the attorney general’s office said an unnamed businessman had bribed FIFA’s former secretary general Jérôme Valcke in return for "the award of media rights for certain countries at the FIFA World Cups in 2018, 2022, 2026
and 2030." Mountrigi’s rights, and those it sold to Torneos, are the only ones that match those described in the Swiss complaint.
26, 2017
LONDON — Investigations over the past few years by United States
and Swiss law enforcement officials into corruption in global soccer have exposed dozens of people and companies that, according to prosecutors, conspired to illegally reap profits from broadcasting and sponsorship deals tied to the sport’s biggest events.
Details of the unusual arrangement first appeared in a plea agreement involving a company charged in the United States’ sprawling soccer investigation,
and emerged again when the Swiss authorities this month accused FIFA’s former top administrator of accepting bribes in return for lucrative TV contracts.
Since the agreement, FIFA’s new leadership has announced
that the World Cup will be expanded to 48 teams from 32 in 2026 — and that the tournament will most likely be staged jointly in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
In court papers related to Torneos’s guilty plea, prosecutors said an affiliate of a major broadcasting company headquartered in Latin
America had helped to pay millions in bribes to get the rights in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay for the next four World Cups.
The Swiss also accused the Qatari businessman Nasser al-Khelaifi, who is the Paris St.-Germain soccer club’s
chairman, of bribing Valcke in return for a separate package of rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cups.
The rights in question are also under scrutiny in Switzerland, where a statement from the attorney general’s office said an unnamed businessman had bribed FIFA’s former secretary general Jérôme Valcke in return for "the award of media rights for certain countries at the FIFA World Cups in 2018, 2022, 2026
and 2030." Mountrigi’s rights, and those it sold to Torneos, are the only ones that match those described in the Swiss complaint.
26, 2017
LONDON — Investigations over the past few years by United States
and Swiss law enforcement officials into corruption in global soccer have exposed dozens of people and companies that, according to prosecutors, conspired to illegally reap profits from broadcasting and sponsorship deals tied to the sport’s biggest events.
Details of the unusual arrangement first appeared in a plea agreement involving a company charged in the United States’ sprawling soccer investigation,
and emerged again when the Swiss authorities this month accused FIFA’s former top administrator of accepting bribes in return for lucrative TV contracts.
Since the agreement, FIFA’s new leadership has announced
that the World Cup will be expanded to 48 teams from 32 in 2026 — and that the tournament will most likely be staged jointly in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
In court papers related to Torneos’s guilty plea, prosecutors said an affiliate of a major broadcasting company headquartered in Latin
America had helped to pay millions in bribes to get the rights in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay for the next four World Cups.
The Swiss also accused the Qatari businessman Nasser al-Khelaifi, who is the Paris St.-Germain soccer club’s
chairman, of bribing Valcke in return for a separate package of rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cups.