How FIFA’s $20B Private-Equity Plan Nearly Broke Soccer

Super League pits economics against history in a clash of cultures

Yahoo – AFP, Antoine MAIGNAN,  April 20, 2021 

A plane flies above Elland Road in Leeds before the Premier League game
against Liverpool protesting against the planned Super League

As the clubs who want to form a Super League focus on their economic futures, they find themselves attacked on all sides for being at odds with football's past. 

"Created by the poor, stolen by the rich," read one banner held up by fans outside Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium on Monday. It summed up the frustration that has been gripping most football followers since the plans were announced. 

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said the proposed closed breakaway league was "a spit in the face" of "football lovers". 

"Everyone is united against this disgraceful, self-serving proposal, fuelled by greed above all else," he said. 

Despite the opposition of their own fans, national governments and the football authorities the 12 clubs are pressing ahead. 

They represent just seven cities in three countries. Six are from England and three each from Spain and Italy. 

The suspicion of fans that the clubs are losing touch with their roots is amplified by the foreign ownership of the majority of the rebel clubs, in several cases through faceless holding companies. 

Manchester City are owned by Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family. Inter Milan are controlled by Chinese holding company Suning. Chelsea are owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovic. 

'Americanisation of the world' 

But the greatest suspicion is that the proposed league is part of what French football historian Paul Dietschy called "the Americanisation of the world". 

An Arsenal fan hangs a banner aimed at the club's America
owner on their Emirates Stadium

Four, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and AC Milan, are owned by Americans or companies based in the United States. 

Of those, three own franchises in major US sports. 

The Fenway Sports Group at Liverpool also owns baseball's Boston Red Sox. The Glazer family at Manchester United own Super Bowl champions the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Stan Kroenke, who controls Arsenal, also owns the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League and the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association. 

There is also an American influence at Juventus. The club has a long association with Fiat, now part of American-Italian group Stellantis. That company's American president John Elkann, a grandson of former Juventus owner Gianni Agnelli, appointed his cousin Andrea Agnelli to run the club. 

The proposed league is being underwritten by American money, in the form of a four billion dollar (3.32bn euro) loan from Wall Street bank JPMorgan Chase. 

As long ago as the 1950s and 1960s, research by American economists showed their clubs were "profit maximisers", while British economist Peter Sloane found that football clubs in the English league were "utility maximisers", motivated by non-financial considerations. 

"American sport has historically been very focused on profit," said Chris Winn, a researcher at the University Campus of Football Business, which has links with Manchester City as well as Premier League Burnley. 

"It's no coincidence that there is a core American group at the heart of these Super League proposals. The European football elite are looking for a guaranteed piece of the pie every year." 

Chelsea fans protested outside Stamford Bridge on Tuesday

Dietschy told AFP that the clubs no longer wanted to be anchored in their local landscape. 

"These clubs are becoming brands and as they target other markets," he said. "It's counter-intuitive when you think of football, but it can work like the American franchises." 

'The rich stealing what the people created' 

But, Dietschy cautioned, "we must be wary of romanticism applied to football. The richest have always dominated. What has changed, however, is that today money is no longer used to win but to make a profit." 

Yet some elite players, who stand to share that profit, are outraged. 

"I believe in an improved Champions League, but not in the rich stealing what the people created," said Paris Saint-Germain's Spain midfielder Ander Herrera 

"The rich have stolen what the people have created," Manchester United's Portuguese player Bruno Fernandes posted on social media. "Dreams cannot be bought." 

So far the Super League has not attracted any clubs in the key market of Germany. 

Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have both taken a public stand against the plan. 

"I would like to make it explicitly clear that FC Bayern will not be taking part in the Super League," said club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in a statement on Tuesday. 

Like Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two Bundesliga giants are fan owned, but German supporters have long been vocal defenders of football traditions. 

Bayern is run by German former players in contrast to the Super League clubs. 

"The directors of these clubs are people trained in top management schools, and their logic is that of business and profit," said Dietschy.

Iran says 'blue girl' football fan admitted 'mistake'

Yahoo – AFP, 14 September 2019

Iran has come under increasing pressure to lift a ban on women entering
stadidums (AFP Photo/JONATHAN NACKSTRAND)

Tehran (AFP) - An Iranian football fan who set herself ablaze and died after being arrested for trying to enter a stadium had "confessed her mistake" when she was questioned, the judiciary said Saturday.

Sahar Khodayari, dubbed "blue girl" because of the colours of the team she supported, Esteghlal FC, was reportedly detained when she tried to enter a stadium dressed as a man to watch them last year.

She died of her injuries in a Tehran hospital after setting herself on fire outside a court last week.

Her death sparked outrage online, with celebrities and activists using the hashtag #blue_girl to urge the sport's world governing body FIFA to ban Iran from competitions and fans to boycott matches.

Iranian women spectators have been barred from football and other stadiums in the Islamic republic since 1981, despite international pressure to let them attend.

Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar on Tuesday asked the judiciary to investigate her death.

The judiciary said, without naming anyone, that a young woman had been arrested when trying to enter a stadium and faced charges of offending "public chastity and insulting" law enforcement officers.

On Saturday, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said Khodayari "had clearly confessed her mistake during questioning, accepted it and expressed regret". He did not give further details.

Esmaili, who was quoted by the judiciary's Mizan Online website, said no sentence had been issued against her since there had been no trial to begin with.

The spokesman also dismissed reports she had been told she would be jailed for six months as "fabricated rumours and hearsay".

Esmaili said such reports "stirred public opinion" and provided material for "foreigners and enemies" of Iran.

Despite the boycott calls following her death, Khodayari's father told Mehr news agency that she did not "sacrifice" herself for any cause.

Iran has come under pressure from FIFA to allow women to attend qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, and was reportedly given a deadline of August 31 to comply.

The sports ministry said last month that women fans would be allowed into the stadium when Team Melli -- as the national team are known -- play their next home qualifier on October 10.

Clerics argue that Iran's ban on women attending sports events is to protect them from the masculine atmosphere and sight of semi-clad men.

Related Article:

Saudi to allow women into stadium for national day

Spain's federation chief held in fraud probe

Yahoo – AFP, Gabriel RUBIO GIRON, Jul 18, 2017

Angel Maria Villar, president of the Spanish Football Federation, is being
held on suspicion of abusing his position to embezzle funds from the
federation, among other charges, judicial sources say (AFP Photo/
JAVIER SORIANO)

Madrid (AFP) - Police raided the headquarters of Spain's football federation on Tuesday and arrested its president Angel Maria Villar as part of an anti-corruption probe.

Villar, 67, a senior vice president of FIFA, world football's governing body, was being held on suspicion of abusing his position to embezzle funds from the federation, among other charges, a judicial source said.

FIFA declined to comment on the arrest, with a spokesman saying it was an "internal affair" for Spain despite Villar's years as a top international football administrator.

His son Gorka along with federation vice president and financial chief Juan Padron were also held in connection with the probe which notably focuses on allegations of skimming profits from international matches, the source told AFP.

An investigating magistrate from Spain's political and financial crimes court is leading the investigation into allegations of "collusion, fraud, embezzlement and presumed forgery."

Police who carried out raids on the federation headquarters in the upscale Madrid suburb of Las Rozas and other locations said that Villar is suspected of organising international football matches as part of a scheme to embezzle funds for the benefit of his son.

Spanish media said a friendly between Spain and South Korea held in June 2016 is among the matches that are believed to have been staged as part of the scheme.

Police agents escorted Villar, who was dressed in casual clothes, into the federation offices several hours after he was arrested.

Spanish government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told public television in response to the Villar arrest that "no-one is untouchable and everyone must obey the law".

Villar, a former acting president and current vice president of UEFA, which runs European football, has headed the Spanish federation since 1988.

He was reelected unopposed for an eighth term in May.

Following his re-election in May, El Pais newspaper denounced his "despotic" management and bemoaned his close ties to FIFA and UEFA leaders embroiled in corruption probes.

Ethical questions

His son Gorka Villar is a former director general of CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation, a post he quit in July last year. He also served on a FIFA advisory panel aimed at reforming the organisation mired in corruption allegations.

Villar senior has overseen a glorious period in the Spanish national team's history as they won three consecutive major tournaments, triumphing at Euro 2008 and 2012 either side of a first ever World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

But his critics say his period in charge has also been undermined by ethical questions and an autocratic management style.

Javier Tebas, the head of the Spanish league, has had a long-running feud with Villar and refers to him as a feudal baron.

Villar survived the massive corruption scandal that engulfed FIFA in 2015 and ultimately led to the downfall of former president Sepp Blatter.

He rose to become stand-in UEFA head for almost a year from October 2015 when Michel Platini was fighting to keep his job before he was banned from football for corruption.

But the former Athletic Bilbao midfielder, capped 22 times for Spain, has been dogged by ethical issues over the years.

He has been under investigation after the federation received a 1.2 million euros ($1.4 million) subsidy to set up a football academy in Haiti that was never built. The federation returned the money but the plan is still the subject of court proceedings.

In early 2016 the government's sports council also ordered the opening of a disciplinary probe into his alleged misconduct in dealings with a third division club.

Most notably he was fined 25,000 Swiss francs ($25,700) by FIFA's ethics committee in 2015 for failing to cooperate during an investigation into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.

Damiani resigns from FIFA ethics committee in Panama Papers fallout - FIFA

Yahoo – AFP, April 6, 2016

Juan Pedro Damiani resigned from the FIFA ethics committee in the Panama Papers
fallout, FIFA announced on April 6, 2016 (AFP Photo/Pablo Bielli)

Geneva (AFP) - Uruguay's Juan Pedro Damiani has resigned from FIFA's ethics committee after the Panama Papers showed his law firm acted as an intermediary for a disgraced FIFA official.

"We can confirm that Mr. Damiani resigned from his position as member of the adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee of FIFA," panel spokesman Marc Tenbuecken told AFP in an email.

Juan Pedro Damiani is under investigation

 by the FIFA watchdog after he was named

 in the Panama Papers (AFP Photo/Michael

Buholzer)

The Panama Papers indicate that Damiani's firm helped Eugenio Figueredo -- the former head of the South American football confederation who is now facing corruption charges in the United States -- set up a shell company.

The leaked documents also show that Damiani's firm acted as a go-between for a Nevada-based company linked to two other people charged with corruption by the US: businessmen Hugo Jinkis and his son Mariano of Argentina.

Damiani, who heads the prestigious Uruguayan club Penarol, has won praise for publicly crusading against corruption in scandal-tained South American football.

He has denied wrongdoing in the Panama Papers case, while FIFA's ethics watchdog has opened a probe into the matter.

Honduran ex-president pleads guilty in NY

Yahoo – AFP, Jennie Matthew, 28 March 2016

Former Honduran president Rafael Callejas leaves the Brooklyn federal court in 

New York, March 28, 2016 after pleading guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy

 and wire fraud conspiracy in connection with the FIFA corruption scandal (AFP Photo/

Kena Betancur)

New York (AFP) - Former Honduran president Rafael Callejas pleaded guilty in New York Monday to conspiracy to commit racketeering and wire fraud in connection with the FIFA corruption scandal rocking world football.

The 72-year-old, who has been free on a $4 million bail in the United States since leaving Honduras by private jet last December to face American justice, will be sentenced on August 5.

The two counts each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail.

"Guilty," Callejas told Magistrate Judge Robert Levy in a federal court in Brooklyn, entering his plea. He spoke calmly in fluent English with a US accent, and was dressed in a dark suit.

Callejas served as president of Honduras from 1990 to 1994. He was head of the country's football federation from 2002 to 2015, and is also a former member of FIFA's Television and Marketing Committee.

He originally faced eight charges of racketeering, fraud and money laundering, to which he pleaded not guilty on December 15.

"I knew it was wrong," he told court Monday, admitting to receiving bribes for awarding media and marketing rights contracts to a Florida-based company for Honduran FIFA World Cup qualifier matches.

As part of his plea, he agreed to forfeit $650,000 -- $180,000 to be paid within one week and the balance due within 12 months.

He is one of 39 officials and marketing executives accused of soliciting and receiving tens of millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks in a case that has sparked an unprecedented crisis at FIFA.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter looking on with fake dollars note flying around him thrown 

by a protester during a press conference at the football's world body headquarter's on 

July 20, 2015 in Zurich (AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)

Extradition

US prosecutors accused Callejas of receiving $1.6 million in bribes between March 2011 and January 2013 for broadcast rights of games played by the Honduran national team.

They said Florida company Media World paid these bribes from its US bank accounts through an intermediary, to overseas accounts of Callejas and a co-conspirator.

Monday's plea brings to 14 the number of individuals to have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with US prosecutors in the FIFA case in exchange for a possible reduction in sentence.

Callejas told the judge that he had been under treatment from a cardiologist and was currently taking medication.

Last Tuesday, Costas Takkas, the former Cayman Islands Football Federation general secretary, became the latest FIFA suspect extradited from Switzerland to appear in a New York court.

Takkas pleaded not guilty before Magistrate Judge Viktor Pohorelsky and was released on a $1 million bond with a $25,000 cash deposit, court documents show.

The 57-year-old accountant, who has British and Greek citizenship, will be confined to house arrest in Florida, allowed to leave only to see his doctors, lawyers, go to court or to attend religious services.

Takkas, who was born in Cyprus, was one of six FIFA officials arrested in May 2015 in Zurich at the request of US authorities.

The US judge granted him 60 minutes of exercise a day in a gym in the building of his Florida residence.

The US corruption investigation precipitated the downfall of longtime FIFA president Sepp Blatter and his former heir apparent, Michel Platini, who have both been banned from the sport for six years for ethics violations. 

Corruption 'embedded' in world athletics, says doping body

Yahoo – AFP, Damien Stroka, 14 January 2016

Athletics' governing council must have been aware of the corruption scandal, 

according to a new report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys)

Munich (Germany) (AFP) - A World Anti-Doping Agency report said Thursday that corruption was "embedded" at the world athletics body, piling pressure on its new leader Sebastian Coe.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) must have known about corruption orchestrated by its former leader Lamine Diack, and about doping in Russia, it claimed.

But Richard Pound, the former WADA president who wrote the report, backed Coe as the best person to lead reforms of the world body.

Despite that support Pound still produced a litany of accusations against the IAAF.

It was not tough enough with "several countries" including Russia, the report said, indicating that doping scandals were not limited to Russia.

Veteran Senegalese powerbroker Diack faces criminal charges in France over allegations that he took more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in bribes from Russian athletes and officials to cover up failed drug tests.

"The corruption was embedded in the organisation," Pound said in a damning comment on the IAAF's handling of drug abuse.

Pound said there was a "complete breakdown of governance structures and lack of accountability" at the IAAF.

"It cannot be ignored or dismissed as attributable to the odd renegade acting on his own," he said of the corruption.

Pound said the the IAAF governing council, which included Coe, had to be aware of the corruption.

Graphic on doping methods banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

(AFP Photo/Adrian Leung/John Saeki)

Pound backs Coe

"The IAAF Council could not have been unaware of the extent of doping in athletics and the non-enforcement of applicable anti-doping rules," Pound said.

Former British running legend Coe, who took over the IAAF leadership in August when Diack stood down, sat in the audience as the report was presented.

And when asked about reforms to the world body, Pound said: "As far as the ability of Lord Coe to remain at the head of the IAAF, I think it's a fabulous opportunity for the IAAF to seize this opportunity and under strong leadership to move forward out of this.

"There's an enormous amount of reputational recovery to do here and, descending to personalities, I can't think of anyone better than Lord Coe to lead that. So all our fingers are crossed in that respect."

Coe later told AFP: "The journey back to trust will take far longer and will be a painful process."

He added: "We can't sit here begging for trust. We have to show by every action that we take that we earn that trust.

"Many of the recommendations that are contained in the report today we will look at them very, very closely and when we think we can and we should absorb them into our own reform process, we will."

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) independent commission chairman Dick 

Pound attends a press conference in Unterschleissheim, southern Germany, 

on January 14, 2016 (AFP Photo/Lukas Barth)

Interpol wanted notice

The first part of Pound's report, released in November said there was a "state-sponsored" doping system in Russia, which has since been suspended by the IAAF.

The new report said Diack had told a lawyer he would need to make a deal with Russia's President Vladimir Putin to ensure nine Russian athletes accused of doping would not compete at the 2013 world championships in Moscow.

The report told of a sudden increase from $6 million to $25 million for Russian rights to televise the 2013 world championships. This was provided by a Russian bank.

Diack handpicked a lawyer to handle Russian doping cases even though he had little experience with anti-doping measures, the report added.

Richard McLaren, a lawyer who was part of the investigation commission, said that Diack's advisor Habib Cisse deliberately held up sending warning notices to Russia about drug failures.

He said the extortion "went beyond sporting corruption and may have been criminal in nature".

Cisse is facing charges in France along with his former boss, Diack's son Papa Massata Diack and Gabriel Dolle, the former IAAF anti-doping doctor.

Interpol on Thursday said it had issued a wanted notice for Papa Massata Diack.

Sebastian Coe was appointed president of the International Association of 

Athletics Federation (IAAF) in 2015 (AFP Photo/Lukas Barth)

According to McLaren, Cisse and Papa Massata Diack put up a "formidable barrier to the effective operation" of the IAAF's efforts to clamp down on doping.

Several IAAF staff have said they sought to draw attention to the doping abuses to leaders but were ignored.

"There was an evident lack of political appetite within the IAAF to confront Russia with the full extent of its known and suspected doping activities," the Pound report said.

Coe has insisted he knew nothing about the corruption and that there was no cover up even though internal IAAF correspondence indicates athletics leaders expressed concern about problems in Russia as far back as 2009.

Pound warned that Kenya "clearly" also had a doping problem but that he had only had a mandate to investigate Russia.

IAAF orders life bans over Russia doping bribes

Yahoo – AFP, Frédéric Bourigault, 7 January 2016

Valentin Balakhnichev, then president of the All-Russia Athletics Federation, waves
the IAAF flag during a handover ceremony at the end of the final day of the World
Championships in Daegu on September 4, 2011 (AFP Photo/Kim Jae-Hwan)

Paris (AFP) - IAAF judges on Thursday banned for life former Russia athletics chief Valentin Balakhnichev and a son of former world body president Lamine Diack over the blackmailing of athletes who failed doping tests.

The ethics commission also ordered a life ban against former Russian walking coach Alexei Melnikov and a five year suspension for former world body anti-doping doctor Gabriel Dolle.

The panel found that the four "conspired to extort what were in substance bribes from the athlete by acts of blackmail."

"Any lesser sanction would not meet the gravity of their offences," the commission added in announcing the bans.

"The life bans announced today could not send a stronger message that those who attempt to corrupt or subvert the sport of athletics will be brought to justice," said International Association of Athletics Federations president Sebastian Coe.

Papa Massata Diack, Balakhnichev and Melnikov also face fines of between $15,000-$25,000 (13,800-23,000 euros).

Papa Massata Diack and his father Lamine Diack, who stepped down as IAAF president in August, and Balakhnichev are all under investigation by French police over hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to cover up doping offences.

Lamine Diack is alleged to have received one million euros ($1.1 million) alone. His son acted as a marketing consultant to the IAAF until forced to stand down over the scandals.

The IAAF ethics commission looked into charges that Russian runner Liliya Shobukhova, who won the 2012 London Olympics women's marathon, paid more than $600,000 to have her doping violations covered up so she could compete at the Olympics.

Melnikov, former national long distance walkers coach, is said to have acted as an intermediary between athletes and Balakhnichev, who was also the IAAF treasurer, and Diack.

Dolle, who like Diack and his father comes from Senegal, played a smaller role in the coverup.

According to the testimony, some 300,000 euros ($325,000) was paid back to Shobukhova through a Singapore company Black Tidings in 2014 in a bid to obtain her silence over the bribes.

But Shobukhova turned whistleblower for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which has been investigating widespread doping in Russian support.

According to the IAAF report, Balakhnichev has given information that at least five other Russian athletes had given cash to cover up doping offences.

Balakhnichev alleged that he had been "blackmailed" by the IAAF and that the system was orchestrated by the world body president's son and Habib Cisse, a former lawyer for the president.

Russia has been suspended by the IAAF and now faces a race against time to be readmitted for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.

Balakhnichev said the ban was a "clearly politicised decision".

"Certain forces are trying to increase the pressure on Russian sport by taking such a radical decision," he told Russia's state-run TASS news agency.

Russia's Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told the R-Sport agency however that the "decision was expected and there is no sense in appealing".

Shobukhova is now serving a reduced ban for her doping failures. Her Olympic title has been stripped from her. At the peak of her career she was earning $1.5 million a year, the ethics commission report said.

"The (2014) repayment was to be a quid pro quo for her acceptance of sanction," the IAAF report said.

WADA is to release a new report on doping in athletics on January 14 which is expected to implicate new countries.

Coe said that the IAAF was still helping the French criminal investigation and WADA's independent commission.

The IAAF, which has faced accusations of taking a lax attitude to doping, said it was "angered" by the bribery case and insisted the four no longer have any link to the world body.

"The IAAF is reassured that the panel of the ethics board has seen no evidence implicating any other members of the IAAF Anti-Doping Department," it said in a statement.

Italian football star Vincenzo Iaquinta to be tried for mafia links

An Italian judge has ordered more than 140 people to stand trial over alleged ties to 'Ndrangheta mafia. The officials suspect ex-Juventus striker and national team member Vincenzo Iaquinta of intending to aid the clan.

Deutsche Welle, 22 December 2015

Iaquinta was indicted for illegal possession of firearms, aggravated by intention to help the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta organization, his lawyer Carlo Taormina said on Monday.

The footballer's father, businessman Giuseppe Iaquinta, faces a more serious charge of mafia association, according to Taormina.

The 36-year old Iaquinta played for several Italian clubs, including the famous Juventus, and was part of Italy's national team which won the World Cup in 2006.

Hoy cumple 36 años el futbolista italiano Vincenzo Iaquinta pic.twitter.com/qL2zw37eUN

— Roy N'Coma (@RodrigoCornell) November 22, 2015

The Italian court ordered the Calabrian-born athlete and more than 140 other people to stand trial for their aiding or joining 'Ndrangheta, Italy's most powerful organized crime network.

A number of the suspects allegedly aided 'Ndrangheta to in their bid to infiltrate the country's north, where the influence of the mafia is traditionally weaker.

The trial is set to start in March 2016.

The Calabrian clan is rumored to control most of Europe's cocaine trade. Their name - 'Ndrangheta - comes from the Greek word for courage or loyalty, and prospective members are required to take an elaborate oath in order to join the organization.

IAAF deputy general secretary steps aside over leaked email

Yahoo – AFP, 22 December 2015

Nick Davies, deputy general secretary of the IAAF, pictured on November 9,
2015, steps down from his role (AFP Photo/Adrian Dennis)

Paris (AFP) - The IAAF's deputy general secretary Nick Davies confirmed on Tuesday that he has stepped down from his role pending an investigation into a plot to delay the naming of Russian drug cheats.

"I have decided to step aside from my role with the IAAF until such time as the Ethics Board is able to review the matter properly and decide if I am responsible for any breach of the IAAF Code of Ethics," Davies said in a statement released by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

French newspaper Le Monde and the BBC reported on Monday that Davies had discussed the plan in an email sent before the 2013 Moscow World Championships to Papa Massata Diack, who worked as an IAAF marketing consultant at the time and is the son of former IAAF president Lamine Diack.

"What has become apparent today is that I have become the story," added Davies, who is the closest aide to current IAAF president Sebastian Coe.

"In order to demonstrate that I am willing to have all allegations of unethical behaviour on my part in 2013 properly and fairly investigated I have referred my emails to Papa Massata Diack in 2013, my statements and the circumstances of the emails to the IAAF Ethics Board."

Le Monde and the BBC reported on Monday that, in the email, which was sent just weeks before the 2013 World Championships, Davies wrote he needed to sit down with the anti-doping team to discuss "Russian skeletons in the cupboard".

Davies stressed in the email that any Russians already caught cheating "should NOT" be in the Russian team in Moscow and that this should be made clear to Valentin Balakhnichev, then president of the Russian athletics federation and IAAF treasurer.

"If the guilty ones are not competing, then we might as well wait until the event is over to announce them," Davies said according to the report.

"Or, we announce one or two BUT AT SAME TIME as athletes from other countries.

"Also, we can prepare a special dossier on IAAF testing which will show that one of reasons why these Russian athletes come up positive is that they get tested a lot!!!"

Last month, Russia was provisionally suspended from track and field over accusations of "state-sponsored" doping as the IAAF scrambled to salvage the sport's credibility just nine months out from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Lamine Diack resigned from his position on the International Olympic Committee in November after being charged with corruption, money laundering and conspiracy.

On Monday the 82-year-old Senegalese was hit with new corruption charges linked to doping cover-ups in world athletics, a source close to the inquiry told AFP.

Lamine Diack served as head of the IAAF for 16 years until August, when he was succeeded by Coe.

Related Article:

Van Praag calls for football to clean up its act in wake of Blatter scandal

Top FIFA officials among 16 indicted in widening scandal

Yahoo – AFP, 4 Dec 2015

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks about the corruption scandal

 engulfing FIFA at the Justice Department in Washington, DC, on December 3,

2015 (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

Washington (AFP) - Sixteen more top football officials were charged in a dramatic widening of the FIFA corruption scandal on Thursday, as US prosecutors vowed to leave no stone unturned in their quest to root out graft.

Several senior FIFA officials from the past or present were named in a 92-count US Justice Department indictment which came after a series of dawn raids at a luxury hotel in Zurich hosting FIFA officials.

Among those indicted on Thursday were the president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), Juan Angel Napout, and Alfredo Hawit, head of the North, Central American and Caribbean ruling body (CONCACAF).

Other notable officials indicted include Ricardo Teixeira, the once-powerful former head of the Brazilian Football Confederation and a former FIFA vice-president.

The indicted also included Ariel Alvarado, a Panamanian official who currently sits on FIFA's disciplinary committee.

The main players in the deepening FIFA corruption scandal (135 x 156 mm)

(AFP Photo/S.Ramis-K.Tian/P. Defosseux)

"The message from this announcement should be clear to every culpable individual who remains in the shadows, hoping to evade our investigation: You will not wait us out. You will not escape our focus," US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, describing the allegations as "outrageous" and "unconscionable."

Lynch revealed that eight more people indicted since authorities launched an earlier wave of FIFA raids and arrests in Switzerland in May had now pleaded guilty.

"I can report eight additional defendants have agreed to plead guilty for their involvement in the corruption scheme," she said.

Millions forfeited

Among those who had pleaded guilty were Jeffrey Webb, a former FIFA vice president and head of CONCACAF.

Webb, who was indicted when the corruption scandal erupted earlier this year, has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, three counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering conspiracy.

As part of his plea deal, Webb has agreed to forfeit more than $6.7 million in assets.

Webb and former CONCACAF chief Jack Warner, who was indicted earlier, were also accused of siphoning off cash intended for disaster relief, according to the new indictment.

"Certain of the defendants and their co-conspirators, including the defendant Jack Warner and Jeffrey Webb, took advantage of these opportunities and embezzled or otherwise personally appropriated funds provided by FIFA, including funds intended for natural disaster relief," the indictment read.

Several senior FIFA officials from the past or present were named in a

 92-count US Justice Department indictment which came after a series of dawn

 raids at a luxury hotel in Zurich hosting FIFA officials The unprecedented 

corruption scandal engulfing FIFA widened on December 3 with the arrests of

 two more top officials in another dramatic dawn raid at a luxury hotel in Zurich.

(AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)

Napout and Hawit are both in Switzerland where they are now fighting extradition to the United States, officials said.

Both men are suspected of taking millions of dollars in bribes in return for selling marketing rights for regional tournaments and World Cup qualifying matches, according to the US indictment.

The investigation also covered the payment and receipt of bribes in connection with the sponsorship of the Brazilian soccer federation by a major US sportswear company, and the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 FIFA presidential election. Lynch would not confirm that the US sportswear company was Nike.

Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey meanwhile said those indicted had run corrupt schemes spanning decades.

"For decades, these defendants used their power as the leaders of soccer federations throughout the world to create a web of corruption and greed that compromises the integrity of the beautiful game," Comey said.

Lynch meanwhile dismissed claims by FIFA's suspended President Sepp Blatter that the US investigation was triggered by sour grapes over the country's failed bid for the 2022 World Cup, controversially awarded to Qatar in a 2010 vote.

"I think (Blatter) is well aware of the nature of our charges," Lynch said.

"This covers years of conduct by dozens and dozens of people from the past into the future. I called it outrageous and unconscionable. That still stands."