Fifa executives arrested over US corruption charges, also probing Russia and Qatar World Cup bids

Swiss police have arrested six Fifa executives in a dawn raid on the five-star Baur au Lac hotel, ahead of a potential extradition to the US on corruption charges.

Officials of the football world body have been under investigation by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over the past three years, suspected of having accepted an alleged total of $100m of bribes over the past two decades in order to select the host country for the World Cup finals.

The Swiss Federal Office of Justice said the Fifa six were being investigated by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York "on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kick-backs between the early 1990s and the present day".

Swiss police have since raided Fifa's Geneva headquarters, seizing documents and said they have begun criminal proceedings in connection with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, according to Sky News.

"It seems like this corruption was institutionalised"

“We’re struck by just how long this went on for and how it touched nearly every part of what FIFA did,” said a law enforcement official cited by the New York Times.

“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.”

Although the identities of those arrested were not disclosed, it was reported that Sepp Blatter, Fifa's long-time president, has not been charged, but was among those investigated.

Some sources pointed out that Chuck Blazer, a former executive vice president of the US Soccer Federation who became a member of FIFA's all-powerful Executive Committee, was arrested.

More than 10 officials were expected to be indicted but not all were in Zurich, with the NYT reporting that Fifa's controversial former North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF) head honcho Jack Warner was among those indicted, as well as Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, José Maria Marin and Nicolas Leoz.

These arrests came two days before the organisation held its presidential election in Zurich on Friday, where Blatter is seeking a fifth term.

The Swiss FOJ said the bribery was alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to Fifa 'functionaries', who in return, it is believed, granted media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with football tournaments in Latin America.

"According to the US request, these crimes were agreed and prepared in the US, and payments were carried out via US banks."

Earlier on Wednesdy, Russia's sports minister Vitaly Mutko said the arrests were not linked to Russia's successful bid for the 2018 World Cup, the TASS news agency reported.

The Zurich arrests are centred around bribes given to influence the decision to award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, according to a source cited by Russia's RT agency, who said that the arrests only "slightly" concerned Russia’s host bid for 2018.

“Everything that’s happening in Zurich is first and foremost tied with the choices of hosting World Cup-2022 and how Qatar won the football festivities,” the source said.

However, reports later confirmed that Swiss prosecutors had seized documents relating to both the awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

But Igor Ananskikh, head of the Russian state parliamentary committee on physical culture and sports, insisted to Interfax: "This doesn't directly concern Russia in any way. All speculations that Russia could lose its status as the 2018 world championship host have no grounds. This will never happen, by definition."

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