After the FIFA scandal involving senior official broke in May, there was a lot of damage done to the reputation of the organization in the eyes of the soccer world.
Just when things seemed to have settled down, the organization's Secretary General Jerome Valcke has again been placed in the spotlight amid new allegations of unethical conduct.
A senior spokesman for the FIFA organization announced that Valcke has been suspended and relieved of his duties with the organization until further notice.
The decision was made after new allegations began circulating related to possible profiteering on the sale of "black market" tickets for the FIFA World Cup events held in 2010 in South Africa, 2014 in Brazil and the one to be held in Russia in 2018.
The spokesman also announce that an immediate investigation into these allegations would be initiated by the Ethics Committee.
It should be noted that Valcke was already scheduled to step down from his post in conjunction with the resignation of FIFA President Sepp Blatter, which is schedule to take effect on February 26, 2016.
As Valcke's boss and confidant, it is not clear if the departing President had any knowledge or involvement with these new allegations.
These new allegations involve the possibility that a FIFA ticketing partner was supplied or to be supplied over 8,700 tickets from Valcke for each of the World Cup events to be held between 2010 and 2018.
Each of these alleged tickets were located or to be located in premium seating areas and were allegedly sold or to be sold to the ticket agency at three times the face value with the proceeds going to Valcke.
The marketing director for the ticketing agency, Benny Alon, supported his allegations by producing a contract filled with the details of the deal.
The contract was shown to reporters along with email correspondence indicating that Valcke considered the transaction profits to be as he put it, "my pension fund." Through his attorneys, Valcke has denied any wrongdoing.
This is not the first time that the Secretary General has been caught up in scandal. In 2006 when acting as FIFA's Marketing Director, he was accused of misleading MasterCard officials during a contract negotiation.
After FIFA signed a deal with VISA, MasterCard filed suit and eventually settled the matter for $90 million while Valcke was fired because of his involvement in the situation. After his good friend Blatter was re-elected President in June of 2007, he was hired for the Secretary General's position.
Of course, these other scandals would seem to pale in comparison to the one that broke in May with allegations of corruption and bribery involving top FIFA officials, including both Blatter and Valcke.
For his part, Valcke is accused of being instrumental in transferring several wires that totaled $10 million from FIFA's general bank accounts for the benefit of the CONCACAF and Caribbean Football Union organizations.
While both Blatter and Valcke have made claims that the transfers were authorized by Julio Grondona, head of the finance committee at the time, other allegations have been made that the funds were used as part of a bribe to award the 2010 World Cup to South Africa, where the event actually took place.
The 54 year-old Valcke was born and raised in Paris, France. After studying to become a journalist, he began working in the television industry. In the 1980s, he worked as a TV journalist with a French TV channel.
From 1991-2003, he worked as an executive for the Sport+ TV organization until he was hired in 2003 by FIFA to serve as the organization's marketing director.
This article is courtesy of sports fan, author and enthusiast Tony Samboras. Football has been a major part of Tony’s life ever since he was young. His passion for writing has led him to a career of being involved in sports. Tony’s other work includes contributing his analytical knowledge to freebookmakersbetsandbonuses.com.au
