Former President Joao Havelange and his former son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira took multi-million dollar bribes on World Cup deals, Swiss prosecutors said in a legal document released on Wednesday, dealing a fresh blow to world soccer’s ruling body.
The 96-year-old Brazilian – who was FIFA president for 24 years before Sepp Blatter took the role in 1998 – pocketed at least 1.5million Swiss francs, while FIFA executive committee member Ricardo Teixeira at least 12.74million Swiss francs in payments from World Cup marketing partner ISL.
FIFA’s discredited Swiss-based marketing partner collapsed in 2001 with debts of around $300 million.
Havelange was instrumental in bringing the Olympics to Rio de Janeiro and to South America for the first time when in 2009 the IOC elected the city as the 2016 host.
He is the former father-in-law of Teixeira, who recently resigned as head of Brazilian football and as chief of Brazil’s organising committee for the 2014 World Cup following a spate of corruption allegations.
Tottenham are set to finally land Ajax star Jan Vertonghen after the club announced it had agreed terms yesterday.
Spurs have been tracking the Belgium defender since last season as he helped Ajax claim their second consecutive Eredivisie title.
Vertonghen is due to undergo a medical this week before completing a deal that will make him the second arrival since Andre Villas-Boas took over as Spurs boss.
“We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with Ajax for the transfer of Jan Vertonghen, subject to a medical,” a statement on the club’s website read.
France have hired former France captain Didier Deschamps as their new head coach.
Deschamps, 43-year-old, left his job at Marseille last week and replaces Laurent Blanc who resigned after France’s loss to Spain in the quarter-finals of Euro 2012.
The former Chelsea midfielder won the World Cup and Euro 2000 as a player.
Deschamps’ first game in charge is set to be against South American champions Uruguay in Le Havre on 15 August.
Borussia M’gladbach midfielder Granit Xhaka has been withdrawn from the Switzerland squad for the Olympic Games after talks between his new club and national association.
The 19-year-old, who joins the Foals from Basel this summer, was initially nominated in the Switzerland squad.
However, Gladbach have requested he be released to allow him to focus on affairs at his new club ahead of the 2012/13 season.
Roberto Mancini agreed a new five-year contract with English champions Manchester City yesterday that ties him to the club until the summer of 2017. The …
Lille have confirmed the signing of Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou on a free transfer following his release by Chelsea.
Kalou has agreed a four-year deal at the Ligue 1 side after being released at the end of last season following six years with the London club.
Kalou joins a Lille side who were champions of France in 2011 and finished third last term to secure Champions League qualification.
Lucio has completed a move to Juventus. The Brazilian defender joins the Bianconeri on a free transfer and has signed a two-year contract, keeping him with the club until 30 June 2014.
Juve beat interest from Fenerbahce and Malaga for the veteran who was allowed to leave Inter Milan earlier this week despite still having a year to run on his contract.
Swiss midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta has joined FC Schalke 04 after the expiry of his Bayer 04 Leverkusen contract.
“We’re delighted that Tranquillo has opted to join our club,” said Schalke’s director of sport Horst Heldt.
“He has an enormous quality and is very versatile, which he has already proven for Leverkusen as well as the Swiss national team. Furthermore we had the opportunity to sign him on a free transfer.”
Barnetta moved to Leverkusen from St Gallen in 2004, going out on loan before making an impression in the Bayer first-team. However, with no new deal offered, the 59-cap international has found alternative employment for the next campaign.
Borussia Mönchengladbach and head coach Lucien Favre have reached an agreement on an early contract extension after the Swiss native helped guide the Foals to a Champions League spot.
“I have been in talks for a long time with the club’s board and management and am pleased about having signed a contract extension and the delightful challenges that lie ahead of us,” said Favre.
The Swiss head coach went on to steer the Foals clear of the relegation battle before inspiring his young and energetic side to clinch the UEFA Champions League play-off spot in the most recent Bundesliga campaign.
Paris Saint-Germain have completed the signing of Argentine striker Ezequiel Lavezzi from Napoli on a four-year deal after he completed a medical yesterday, the French outfit have announced.
No fee has been revealed, but reports say that PSG will pay in the region of €30 million for Lavezzi, making him the third most expensive player in their history behind Javier Pastore and Nicolas Anelka.
Lavezzi, 27-year-old, began his career with Estudiantes de La Plata and also played for San Lorenzo before moving to Napoli in 2007.
Former Mannschaft captain Matthias Sammer has been appointed sporting director of Bayern Munich in place of Christian Nerlinger.
The latter’s exit follows two seasons without a title for the Bavarians who finished second last term behind B. Dortmund.
“On behalf of the club I would like to thank Christian Nerlinger for his work at FC Bayern in the last four years,” said president Uli Hoeneß. “I hope that our good personal relationship will remain.”
Nerlinger himself said of his departure: “I wish FC Bayern all the best for the future. I had a very good and intensive time here and will continue to have a personal connection to the club.”
Milan have finally ended PSG and Manchester City’s hopes of signing defender Thiago Silva by persuading the Brazilian to sign a new deal at the San Siro.
PSG saw several bids for the commanding centre-half rebuffed last month and Milan have now convinced him his future lies with the Rossoneri.
Silva has signed a five-year deal which ties him to the club until 2017.
Spain striker Fernando Torres has won the Golden Boot as top scorer at Euro 2012, scoring three goals in just 189 minutes played.
Torres came off the bench to score Spain’s third, and his third of the tournament, in the 84th minute of a 4-0 victory in the final against Italy. He also scored twice in a 4-0 group stage win over Ireland.
Six players scored three goals at Euro 2012, and the tiebreaker was who provided most assists.
Torres duly delivered four minutes after scoring by squaring the ball for Juan Mata, another substitute, to score.
The other three-goal players were: Mario Balotelli (Italy), Alan Dzagoev (Russia), Mario Gomez (Germany), Mario Mandzukic (Croatia) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal).
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque hailed a “great generation of footballers” after seeing his side crush Italy in the final of Euro 2012 in Kiev on Sunday.
Spain become the first team ever to win three major tournaments in a row.
“This is a great generation of players. They have roots and know how to play because they come from a country that knows how to. We have a great bunch of lads, some playing abroad – they never used to.
“Italy had bad luck because Thiago Motta was injured and then everything turned in our favour.”
The Spain coach’s tactics had come in for criticism throughout the tournament but he stuck to his guns by choosing not to field a recognized striker while choosing Cesc Fabregas as a false nine and he was adamant it was the right decision.
“The important thing is to score goals. We have a very balanced team. We have security in our players. We have great strikers, but we chose to play with players who went better with our style.”
Spanish star Andres Iniesta was named player of Euro 2012 on Monday by European football governing body UEFA.
The 28-year-old – who was man of the match in Spain’s historic 4-0 win over Italy in Sunday’s final – was selected by a technical committee made up of 11 people.
Iniesta, who prior to the final was battling out the player of the tournament award with Andrea Pirlo, succeeds compatriot and Barcelona team-mate Xavi, who won the award at the 2008 edition.
Millions of people have been partying and celebrating all night long in Spain after their national football team defeated Italy at the Euro 2012 final.
The capital Madrid saw a huge improvised procession with torches, fireworks, national flags, dancing and shouting.
La Roja’s 4-0 victory in Kiev made them the first team to win three successive major international tournaments.
Spanish media are also jubilant about the historic victory and do not spare any praise for the players and the coach with headlines such as “They Rewrote History and Became Legends.”
Laurent Blanc is not renewing his contract as manager of France national team, the French Football Federation said Saturday. France made it to the Euro 2012 quarter-finals but lost to defending champions Spain.
The favorite to replace Blanc is Didier Deschamps, who played 103 matches for France, and is set to leave as Marseille manager after a difficult last season.
Deschamps would be the ideal choice to replace Blanc, having made no secret of his desire to coach France one day. He was France’s captain when it won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, the national team’s last major trophy, and would be a popular choice.
Blanc was reportedly unhappy he wasn’t offered a contract extension before Euro 2012 had started, with the FFF preferring to wait and see how the team performed.
France lost its final group match to last-place Sweden to set up a clash against Spain in the quarterfinals, losing 2-0 to the defending champions in a largely defensive performance
European football’s governing body is to give a special award to fans of Ireland for their behaviour in Euro 2012 co-host Poland, UEFA’s secretary-general, Gianni Infantino, said yesterday.
“The executive committee has decided to give a special award to the Irish football fans,” he told a news conference in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on the eve of the Euro 2012 final between holders Spain and Italy.
“Everyone was very impressed by the fans of the national team of the Republic of Ireland who came to Poland. The team’s results were mitigated by the fans.
The Republic of Ireland lost all three of their Group C matches against Spain, Italy and Croatia but there was high praise from the Polish press, public and authorities for the way in which the team’s fans conducted themselves.
Irish fans captured Polish hearts in particular after their 4-0 defeat to Spain in the Baltic port city of Gdansk with their good cheer and song.
Indeed so moved was Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger that he told his fellow commentators from French TV channel TF1 to stop commentating and listen to the fans as the match drew to a close.
