Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly wants to leave Real Madrid after the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti.

A variety of publications have alleged that Ronaldo is just upset at Florentino Perez’s decision to sack the Italian coach, who led the club to their 10th European cup last summer but presided over a trophyless campaign this season. He’s also especially disappointed in the replacement that has been lined up.

Spanish newspaper Don Balon, via the Mirror, claimed that Ronaldo is unhappy that Real Madrid are set to appoint Rafa Benitez as their new manager. Ronaldo and Benitez had previously come head to head when the latter played for Manchester United and the former coached Liverpool.

Ancelotti was sacked on May 25 by Perez, who admitted that it had been a “very difficult decision.” Ancelotti has since been linked with a return to AC Milan, where he previously won the Champions League as both a player and a coach.

Ronaldo’s appreciation of Carlo Ancelotti was showcased when the Portuguese forward took to his Instagram to upload an image of himself with his former manager, alongside the caption, “Great coach and amazing person. Hope we work together next season.”

For his replacement, Real Madrid are reportedly eyeing up Rafa Benitez, who earlier this week announced that he will be leaving Napoli at the end of this season.

But Cristiano Ronaldo’s issues with Real Madrid doesn’t just stop with their potential new manager and the dismissal of Ancelotti. Ronaldo has also taken umbrage with Florentino Perez’s universal support of Gareth Bale, who has struggled since he moved for a world record fee to Real Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur.

The Spanish press described Ronaldo and Real Madrid president Perez’s relationship as “a marriage of convenience.” Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, has also added to the worries because Benitez wasn’t his first choice for the managerial position. He, in fact, wanted his client Nuno, who manages at Valencia, to be considered.

If Ronaldo did actually decide to leave the Bernabeu, then there would be a long list of clubs lining up to try and secure his signature. Paris Saint German will almost certainly prepare a bid, while, according to the Daily Star, both Chelsea and Manchester United will be interested in purchasing the forward.

Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho previously managed Ronaldo at Real Madrid, while Ronaldo is still regarded as a fan favorite over at Manchester United, where he played between 2003 and 2009.

The corruption charges engulfing world soccer’s governing body have heaped shame and humiliation on the game, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said on Thursday, although he flatly rejected calls to resign over the widening scandal.

With FIFA facing the worst crisis in its 111-year history, Michel Platini, who heads Europe’s soccer confederation UEFA, said he had told Blatter to go “with tears in my eyes”, but the 79-year-old had refused.

“I said, ‘I’m asking you to leave, FIFA’s image is terrible.’ He said that he couldn’t leave all of a sudden,” Platini, a former French international, told reporters.

In a bullish speech opening a FIFA Congress in Zurich, Blatter said the turbulence of the last two days, which included the arrest of leading soccer officials at their luxury Swiss hotel, had brought “shame and humiliation” to world soccer.

Making his first public appearance since Wednesday’s dramatic events, which were triggered by a U.S.-led investigation into allegations of rampant bribe-taking, Blatter said there was no room “for corruption of any kind”.

“The events of (Wednesday) have cast a long shadow over football and this Congress,” said Blatter, who is standing for a fifth mandate as FIFA president in Friday’s election, in which Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan is his only challenger.

Ignoring calls to step down, Blatter said: “I know many people hold me ultimately responsible … (but) I cannot monitor everyone all the time. If people want to do wrong, they will also try to hide it.”

Platini said 45 or 46 of UEFA’s 53 member associations would vote for Prince Ali. But it appeared that Blatter still commanded enough of FIFA’s 209 national associations to secure victory.

Sponsor concerns

Adding to the pressure, there were growing concerns about the allegations from major sponsors, many of whom have solidly backed FIFA despite nearly 20 years of bribery and corruption allegations.

German sportswear company Adidas said FIFA should do more to establish transparent compliance standards. Anheuser-Busch InBev, whose Budweiser brand is a sponsor of the 2018 World Cup, said it was closely monitoring developments.

Credit card company Visa Inc urged immediate reforms.

In a strongly worded statement, Visa said: “Our sponsorship has always focused on supporting the teams, enabling a great fan experience, and inspiring communities to come together and celebrate the spirit of competition and personal achievement … it is important that FIFA makes changes now so that the focus remain on these going forward. Should FIFA fail to do so, we have informed them that we will reassess our sponsorship”.

Coca-Cola Co, another sponsor, said the charges had “tarnished the mission and ideals of the FIFA World Cup and we have repeatedly expressed our concerns about these serious allegations”.

Investigations widening

In countries whose nationals were indicted in the United States, more investigations were under way.

An judge in Argentina ordered the arrest of three businessmen accused of conspiring to win and keep hold of lucrative media rights contracts from regional soccer federations through the payment of up to $110 million in bribes.

In Brazil, the Senate, led by former national soccer star Romario, now a legislator, moved to open a formal inquiry into bribes that authorities said were paid obtain contracts with the Brazilian Soccer Federation.

Meanwhile, the Miami-based Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) president Jeffrey Webb, who was among those arrested, has been provisionally dismissed from his role, the confederation said on Thursday.

Confident Blatter

Blatter appeared confident despite the dawn raid by plainclothes police on Wednesday that left seven of the most powerful figures in international football in Swiss custody and facing extradition to the United States on corruption charges.

All seven are contesting extradition, but lawyers said the process could be completed within months.

Nine soccer officials and five sports media and promotions executives were charged by U.S. prosecutors with corruption they said involved more than $150 million in bribes.

Swiss authorities have also announced a criminal investigation into the awarding of the next two World Cup tournaments, which are being hosted in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

Both countries have denied any suggestion of wrongdoing over their bids to host one of the world’s top sporting events, and Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Thursday of meddling in an effort to prevent the re-election of Blatter.

“This is yet another blatant attempt to extend its jurisdiction to other states,” Putin said, adding that Russia would continue to support Blatter.

FIFA Congress

The FIFA Congress formally got under way on Thursday evening. In the past, the likes ofGrace Jones have set the hearts racing of the older men in suits who comprise most of the gathering’s constituency.

But times have changed.

The evening was billed as a rather more subdued affair than normal under the banner “Game of Joy, Game of Hope” with dancers and musicians on stage followed by a grand buffet afterward.

The serious business starts on Friday morning in Zurich’s Hallenstadion, which is where the announcement of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup venues was made in 2010, decisions which lie at the heart of much of FIFA’s current malaise.

With splits opening in the world game, the Asian and African confederations backed Blatter for president, while Western countries said he must go.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Friday’s vote should be delayed in light of the corruption investigation.

British Prime Minister David Cameron backed Prince Ali’s candidacy and said there was a strong case for a change of leadership at FIFA. Britain has long been a critic of FIFA and bid for the 2018 World Cup which was awarded to Russia.

Les Murray of Australia, a former FIFA ethics committee member, also called for Blatter to resign.

Source Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Thursday of meddling outside its jurisdiction in the arrest of top officials from soccer’s world governing body, FIFA.

Putin said the arrests in Switzerland on Wednesday were an “obvious attempt” to prevent FIFA head Sepp Blatter’s re-election this week but that the 79-year-old had Russia’s backing.

The world’s most popular sport was plunged into turmoil this week when seven senior soccer officials were arrested on U.S. corruption charges to face extradition from Switzerland.

Swiss authorities have also announced a criminal investigation into the awarding of the next two World Cups, including the 2018 tournament in Russia.

“If anything happened, it did not happen on U.S. territory and the United states has nothing to do with it,” Putin said. “This is yet another blatant attempt (by the United States) to extend its jurisdiction to other states.”

Citing former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, both of whom have evaded prosecution in the United States by hiding abroad, Putin questioned Washington’s right to request the FIFA officials’ extradition.

“Unfortunately, our American partners use such methods to achieve their selfish aims and illegally persecute people. I do not rule out that in the case of FIFA, it’s exactly the same,” Putin said.

He said FIFA head Blatter, who is standing for re-election to a fifth term at the FIFA Congress in Zurich on Friday, had been pressured to strip Russia of its rights to host the 2018 World Cup.

Source Reuters

Flustered FIFA officials shut down a media conference in New Zealand on Thursday after being inundated with questions about the sport’s latest scandal.

What was meant to be a promotion for FIFA’s under-20 World Cup, the tournament that has launched the careers of players like Lionel Messi, descended into farce when local journalists quizzed organisers about the corruption scandal embroiling the world governing body in Switzerland.

“Here we are not getting into any questions of this,” FIFA’s head of the tournament Marion Mayer-Vorfelder told reporters in Auckland. “Every question of this kind please refer to our colleagues in Zurich.

“We really want to focus on the under-20 (World Cup), as I said the best teams in the world are here.”

FIFA media operations manager Monika Huser then repeated several times they had nothing further to add and suggested they had been gagged by their bosses in Switzerland.

“We don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “We can’t actually talk about the recent events happening in Zurich.

“We cannot, even if we wanted to, we do not have any more information. We cannot comment on that and we are awaiting further guidance.”

Soccer’s governing body has been thrown into turmoil after Swiss police arrested seven senior officials at the request of United States authorities for alleged corruption involving more than $150 million in bribes over 24 years.

The controversy has tainted the world governing body’s Congress, which will hold a presidential election on Friday.

Earlier, New Zealand soccer officials and politicians attempted to distance themselves from the scandal, reiterating a oft-repeated message on Thursday that it would have little impact on the age-group tournament.

“We don’t anticipate any impact on the tournament at all at this stage,” the head of the local organising committee Dave Beeche told reporters in Auckland.

“Obviously it’s a developing situation, but we’re focusing on the task at hand and that’s putting the final touches in place and make sure we deliver a great event.”

Local businesses associated with the tournament contacted by Reuters had no comment to make.

New Zealand’s Sports Minister Jonathan Coleman also dismissed suggestions the tournament might be tarred by the scandal.

“The focus of the local organising committee is actually on the tournament delivery and obviously they’ve got a big job ahead of them,” he told reporters.

“And all this stuff is happening overseas so it’ll be a while for all the to come through the wash, but I’m confident the New Zealand has no direct involvement or implication in anything that involves that touches this scandal.”

Local politicians also suggested there was little correlation between what happened in Zurich and what happened on the sporting fields in New Zealand.

“It’s of very little interest to us as a host city,” said Justin Lester, the deputy mayor of Wellington, which will host six group games and three knockout phase matches.

“We’re about watching the sport, hosting the teams who have qualified legitimately and it’s all been on the field and that’s what we’re organising.”

New Zealand Football (NZF) chief executive Andy Martin had earlier issued a statement from Zurich, also trying to distance the tournament from the furore.

“New Zealand Football, together with our Local Organising Committee, remain focused on delivering a great FIFA U-20 World Cup, starting on Saturday,” Martin said in a statement.

“We do not anticipate that these events will impact on the tournament.”

A spokesperson for the Oceania Football Confederation said they had no comment to make.

New Zealand face Ukraine in the first game of the tournament at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday (0100 GMT).

Source Reuters

The world’s most popular sport was plunged into turmoil on Wednesday as seven senior football officials were arrested on U.S. corruption charges and faced extradition from Switzerland, whose authorities also announced a criminal investigation into the awarding of the next two World Cups.

The arrests in a dawn raid at a five-star Zurich hotel mark an unprecedented blow against football (soccer)’s governing body FIFA, which for years has been dogged by allegations of corruption but always escaped major criminal cases.

U.S. prosecutors said they aimed to make more arrests but would not be drawn on whether FIFA President Sepp Blatter, for long the most powerful man in the sport, was a target of the probe. Blatter, 79, is standing for re-election to a fifth term at the FIFA Congress in Zurich on Friday, and FIFA said the vote would go ahead as planned.

The European football body UEFA called for the election to be postponed, saying “the European associations will have to consider carefully if they should even attend this Congress.”

In a scathing indictment of corruption in football, U.S. authorities said nine officials and five sports media and promotions executives were charged in cases involving more than $150 million in bribes over a period of 24 years. They said their investigation exposed complex money laundering schemes, millions of dollars in untaxed incomes and tens of millions in offshore accounts held by FIFA officials.

Swiss police arrested the seven, all from the Latin American and Caribbean region, and detained them pending extradition proceedings to the United States, which could take years if they contest the process. The Federal Office of Justice in Switzerland said that six would contest extradition, but that one person agreed to be extradited.

“As charged in the indictment, the defendants fostered a culture of corruption and greed that created an uneven playing field for the biggest sport in the world,” said Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey. “Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks, and bribes became a way of doing business at FIFA.”

Blatter, who has denied and survived allegations of his involvement in corruption, said in a statement: “Let me be clear: such misconduct has no place in football and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game.”

The statement also said that FIFA welcomed the actions and the investigations “and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken to root out any wrongdoing in football.”

Separate from the U.S. investigation, Swiss prosecutors said they had opened their own criminal proceedings against unidentified people on suspicion of mismanagement and money laundering related to the awarding of rights to host the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 event in Qatar.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch told reporters at a news conference in New York her office did not want to impede the 2018 and 2022 World Cups but looked forward to working with Swiss authorities investigating the award of the tournaments.

“FIFA has a lot of soul searching to do,” she said.

The indictment accused the officials of using a variety of schemes to take kickbacks and bribes from sports marketing firms connected to major tournaments, and also alleged corruption in the selection of the 2010 World Cup host and the 2011 FIFA presidential election.

One of those indicted, former FIFA Vice President Jack Warner of Trinidad, solicited $10 million in bribes from the South African government to host the 2010 World Cup, the Justice Department said.

Warner directed a number of co-conspirators to arrange the payment, which was eventually sent from a FIFA account in Switzerland to a Bank of America account in New York that Warner controlled, the indictment said. The South African Football Association called the bribe allegations “baseless and untested.”

“The beginning…not the end”

Warner, former FIFA vice president and executive committee member of CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America, Caribbean Association Football), said in a statement that he was innocent of any charges. Warner surrendered to the police mid-afternoon in Port of Spain, made an initial court appearance on 12 charges of corruption, money laundering and racketeering and was granted TT$2.5 million ($400,000) bail.

The United States took jurisdiction of the case in part because the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI secured the cooperation of U.S. citizen Chuck Blazer, a former top FIFA official, who U.S. officials said had not paid taxes for years.

Blazer’s lawyer, Eric Corngold, declined to comment.

Kelly Currie, the acting U.S. attorney in Brooklyn said Wednesday’s charges brought in the New York City borough represent “the beginning of our effort, not the end.”

Early Wednesday, FBI agents carrying bags and boxes to execute a search warrant went into the group’s office in Miami Beach. Agents also used a search warrant at the offices of Traffic Sports in Miami.

CONCACAF said in a statement it was “deeply concerned by today’s developments” and that “the Confederation will continue to cooperate with the authorities to its fullest capacity.”

In addition to Blazer, 70, others who pleaded guilty were José Hawilla, 71, owner of the Traffic Group, a sports marketing firm founded in Brazil, and two of his companies; Daryan Warner, 46, and Daryll Warner, 40, sons of Jack Warner.

Their lawyers declined comment or were not available to comment.

“It is clear that the case is based in large part on some cooperating insiders who have already plead guilty,” said Miami lawyer David Weinstein, former prosecutor.

The FIFA officials appeared to have walked into a trap set by U.S. and Swiss authorities. The arrests were made at dawn at a plush Zurich hotel, the Baur au Lac, where officials are staying before the vote. Suites at the hotel cost up to $4,000 a night.

Sponsorship consequences

The arrests could have implications for sponsorship.

The indictment said that in 1996, an unidentified global sports company agreed to pay $160 million over 10 years to become Brazil’s exclusive footwear, apparel, accessories, and equipment supplier. That was an apparent reference to Nike Inc , which sponsored the Brazil national team.

Nike said that it was cooperating with authorities. “Nike believes in ethical and fair play in both business and sport…,” a company statement said.

The indictment said that the company agreed to additional financial terms not in the initial contract. This included paying an additional $40 million to “a Traffic affiliate with a Swiss bank account” and referred to as “marketing fees.”

German sportswear company Adidas, long associated with FIFA, said the football body should do more to establish transparent compliance standards. Anheuser-Busch InBev, whose Budweiser brand is a sponsor of the 2018 World Cup, said it was closely monitoring developments at FIFA.

Coca-Cola Co, another FIFA sponsor, said the charges had “tarnished the mission and ideals of the FIFA World Cup and we have repeatedly expressed our concerns about these serious allegations.”

Officials said that following the arrests, accounts at several banks in Switzerland had been blocked.

The officials arrested in Zurich are: Jeffrey Webb, vice-president of world body FIFA, president of North and Central American body CONCACAF and head of football in the Cayman Islands; Eduardo Li, who runs Costa Rica’s football federation; Julio Rocha, who headed Nicaragua’s federation; Eugenio Figueredo, another FIFA vice-president who used to run Uruguayan football; Rafael Esquivel who is the sport’s boss in Venezuela; Jose Maria Marin, who used to be the head of Brazil’s federation; and Costas Takkas, another CONCACAF official.

Those detained or their representatives were not available to comment.

Lynch said in a statement that the charges span “at least two generations of football officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.”

The international governing body of football collects billions of dollars in revenue, mostly from sponsorship and television rights for World Cups. It has been dogged by reports of corruption which it says it investigates itself.

“The chickens are finally coming home to roost and this sounds like a hugely significant development for FIFA,” said Damian Collins, a British member of parliament who founded the reform group New FIFA Now.

FIFA’s decision to award the World Cup to Qatar, a tiny desert country with no domestic tradition of football, was heavily criticised by football officials in Western countries. FIFA was forced to acknowledge that it is too hot to play football there in the summer when the tournament is traditionally held, forcing schedules around the globe to be rewritten to move the event.

Qatar’s stock market fell sharply as news of the Swiss investigation emerged.

Source Reuters

Six soccer officials, including some high-ranking members of world governing-body FIFA, were arrested by Swiss police on Wednesday and detained pending extradition to the United States.

The arrests were made shortly after a dawn at a Zurich hotel where FIFA officials are staying ahead of this week’s FIFA presidential election.

The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) released a statement saying the six officials, who were not formally named, were suspected by U.S. investigators of having received or paid bribes totaling millions of dollars.

The FOJ also confirmed that FIFA president Sepp Blatter was not among those arrested.

“The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kickbacks between the early 1990s and the present day,” the statement said.

“The bribery suspects — representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms — are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries — delegates of FIFA and other functionaries of FIFA sub-organizations — totaling more than US$100 million.”

The New York Times, citing anonymous law enforcement officials, said the U.S. federal charges include racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud and span two decades of misconduct in soccer’s world governing body.

More than 10 officials were expected to be indicted, but not all were in Zurich, the newspaper reported.

Most of the officials are in Switzerland for the FIFA Congress, where Blatter faces a challenge from Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein in a presidential election on Friday when the Swiss administrator will attempt to secure a fifth term at the helm.

FIFA did not make any immediate comment on the arrests.

The New York Times said more than a dozen plain-clothed Swiss law enforcement officials arrived at Zurich’s Baur au Lac hotel early on Wednesday, took keys from the registration desk and headed up to the rooms.

CONCACAF focus

One FIFA official was led by the authorities from his room to a side-door exit of the hotel, the Times said, adding that officials from the body’s powerful executive committee were being targeted.

“We’re struck by just how long this went on for and how it touched nearly every part of what FIFA did,” the Times quoted an unnamed law enforcement official as saying.

“It just seemed to permeate every element of the federation and was just their way of doing business. It seems like this corruption was institutionalized.”

The Times said much of the enquiry was focused on the CONCACAF region, which governs soccer in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

The confederation’s former boss Jack Warner was regularly dogged by accusations of corruption before he resigned in 2011, putting an end to investigations of the Trinidadian.

Prosecutors expected to announce the case at a news conference at the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, which is leading the investigation on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal said in a separate report.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and Internal Revenue Service criminal chief Richard Weber were expected to appear in Brooklyn to announce the case, the WSJ said.

The reports offer a fresh blow to the credibility of FIFA, which has suffered repeated accusations of wrongdoing over the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were awarded to Qatar and Russia respectively.

FIFA appointed an independent investigator to look into the allegations and though a summary of his report found some wrongdoing on the part of the Qatari and Russian bid committees, FIFA’s ethics judge concluded it was not enough to question the entire process.

The investigator, former attorney Michael Garcia, subsequently resigned from his role in December after criticising the handling of his report.

Damian Collins, the British MP who founded the reform group New FIFA Now, said the news was hugely significant for FIFA and could have a massive impact on the governing body.

“The chickens are finally coming home to roost and this sounds like a hugely significant development for FIFA,” he told Reuters by telephone.

“It proves that Sepp Blatter’s promises over the last few years to look into corruption at FIFA have not materialised and because he has totally failed to do this, it has been left to an outside law enforcement agency to do the job and take action.”

Source Reuters