Council of Europe report slams FIFA, insisting on speedier reforms

In a report released today the Council of Europe sharpens it tone against FIFA and provides new information about the scale of the corruption that has affected the world governing body of football. The report includes the full statements of the Swiss magistrate who has investigated FIFA for almost a decade, Thomas Hildbrand. 

Because of the current legal proceedings in Switzerland the report does not name the two key FIFA officials involved, but it claims that one of these persons is still a top official of FIFA. It also says that Joseph S. Blatter as Techincal Director, Secretary General and since 1998 President of FIFA probably knew about the bribes: “Since FIFA was aware of significant sums paid to certain of its officials, it is difficult to imagine that Mr Blatter would not have known about this”, the report says.

The report also shows that the bribes paid out by the ISL company is considerably higher than the 140 million Swiss Franc documented so far.

The report will be dealt with by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, which brings together 318 parliamentarians from the 47 Council of Europe member states, at 10 a.m. on Wednesday 25 April.

You can read the report and the statements of Mr. Hildbrand here.

You can also read Andrew Jennings' page-by-page summary of the report here

Update: The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) agreed, in its session this Wednesday, to demand a “detailed and exhaustive” investigation into FIFA’s recent Presidential election and to call on FIFA to “publish in full any judicial and other documents relating to the case of Swiss sports promoter ISL/ISMM.”

Read the full press release from PACE here