FIFA member behind illegal WC ticket sales
Saturday, 5 July 2014
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 4 (AFP): Football's powerful governing body came under renewed scrutiny after a Brazilian police chief said Thursday a FIFA member provided thousands of World Cup tickets sold illegally at games for millions of dollars.
Police commissioner Fabio Barucke said "someone from FIFA" and "an intermediary from Match Hospitality", FIFA's ticket agency, had channelled the tickets onto the black market.
The FIFA figure, whom police are trying to identify, is believed to be staying at the Copacabana Palace, a luxury Rio de Janeiro hotel used by some FIFA hierarchy at the World Cup, Barucke told reporters.
The scandal is the latest to hit FIFA, which is already battling allegations that members accepted bribes from a Qatari football official to secure support for the emirate's campaign to get the 2022 World Cup finals.