The U.S. Justice Department unveiled indictments Wednesday morning against 14 high-ranking officials with FIFA, world soccer's governing body, who face charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering following a three-year FBI investigation.
The indictment names 14 people, some of whom were arrested Wednesday morning in Zurich by Swiss police, acting on behalf of U.S. law enforcement personnel, at the start of FIFA's annual meeting. But with the arrests and the indictments having led to more questions than answers, Times soccer writer Kevin Baxter attempts to make some sense out of the confusion:
Will this hurt the U.S. chances of hosting World Cups in the future?
Possibly. The U.S. was in line to stage the 2026 World Cup, partly as payback for losing the 2022 tournament to Qatar in a vote that was later shown to be rife with corruption. If Wednesday's arrests and extradition are seen as unwelcome and heavy-handed American meddling in FIFA's affairs, the U.S. Soccer bid could lose the support of delegates from countries in the developing world.
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