The United States attorney general simultaneously announced the unsealing of the indictments and the prior guilty pleas by four football executives and two corporations.

[3] There was also a simultaneous raid on the CONCACAF headquarters in Miami Beach,[4][5] and later, two further men handed themselves in to police for arrest: Jack Warner and marketing executive Alejandro Burzaco.

[8] The arrests case triggered Australia,[9] Colombia,[10] Costa Rica,[11] Germany[12] and Switzerland[13] to open or intensify separate criminal investigations into top FIFA officials for corruption.

[15] In December 2010, federal law enforcement agents secured the undercover cooperation of American football executive and CONCACAF official Chuck Blazer.

It also requires taxpayers to report and pay tax on illegal income, and exercises worldwide jurisdiction over all financial institutions with U.S.-based account holders.

[18] In December 2010, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and British Prime Minister David Cameron attended a meeting with FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon in which a vote-trading deal for the right to host the 2018 World Cup was discussed.

[20][21] In November 2013, Blazer pleaded guilty to 10 criminal charges including wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering, and offenses involving income tax and banking.

[18] The information against Blazer (the charging document used in lieu of an indictment for a plea bargain) was revealed on 27 May 2015, the same day that the arrests were made in Zurich.

"[26] In May 2011, The Sunday Times published claims from a whistle-blower that President of CAF Issa Hayatou had, along with fellow Executive Committee member Jacques Anouma, accepted $1.5 million bribes from Qatar to secure his support for their bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The payment is a key piece of the American prosecutors' indictment that accuses Warner of taking a bribe in exchange for helping South Africa secure the right to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

[36] The Swiss police also planned to question ten members of the FIFA Executive Committee who participated in the December 2010 votes that chose the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 world cups.

[37] In September 2015, Switzerland began investigating a payment Blatter authorised in 2011 to the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Michel Platini for work done between 1999 and 2002.

[40] In September 2015, Swiss public television channel SRF published that Blatter would have sold the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup rights in North America for US$600,000, a small fraction of their market value.

[2][44] The December indictment included the following 16 individuals: In 2001, FIFA affiliate International Sports and Leisure went bankrupt in what were viewed in some circles as suspicious circumstances.

[66] Following investigations Swiss magistrate Thomas Hildbrand seized documents from FIFA offices in 2005[65] and in 2007 Jennings published a book – Foul – and broadcast the BBC Panorama documentary "The Beautiful Bung: Corruption and the World Cup".

After it was announced that Russia would host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Dr Rafał Pankowski, a head of UEFA FARE Monitoring Centre, accused the Russian Football Union of downplaying racist chants in stadiums.

[68] The annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 led to several British and American politicians calling on FIFA to overturn its decision of hosting the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

[70] Since in summer temperature will reach more than 50 °C (122 °F) in Qatar, it was announced on 24 February 2015 that a winter World Cup would go ahead in favour of the traditional summertime event.

[71] In May 2011 a whistleblower later revealed to be Phaedra Almajid who was a member of the Qatari bid team for the 2022 World Cup, claimed that money was paid to FIFA's executive committee in order to buy votes.

[80][79] The investigations continued with the chance of more arrests remaining likely, on which US Attorney General Loretta Lynch[81] stated that the Department of Justice was aware that there are more corrupt officials and organizations, and expressed its commitment to catch all who were involved.

I and others on the FIFA executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup".

[85] On 6 June, Phaedra Almajid, who had been placed under the protective custody of the FBI, claimed that FIFA would be forced to strip Qatar from hosting the 2022 World Cup.

[86] The decision was made by the FIFA Emergency Committee[87] after a series of allegations implicated Valcke of selling World Cup tickets for above face value.

[12] Marco Polo del Nero of Brazil, president of the Brazilian football federation announced his resignation from FIFA Executive Committee on 26 November 2015.

[91] Hours later, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed an additional 16 indictments for criminal schemes; as well, former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb pleaded guilty to money laundering, wire fraud and racketeering.

[99] According to the US Department of Justice web site, the following defendants previously pleaded guilty under seal and agreed to forfeit more than $40 million.

[126] On 12 June 2015, an international law enforcement agency Interpol announced it was suspending a 20 million euro donation by FIFA to fund an anti-gambling and match-fixing program.

All external partners, whether public or private, must share the fundamental values and principles of the organisation, as well as the wider law enforcement community.