FIFA was the governing body at the center of the 2015 FIFA corruption scandal.
The scandal began with coordinated arrests of FIFA officials in Zurich on 27 May 2015, shortly before the organization’s presidential election. U.S. prosecutors charged officials with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering connected to more than $150 million in alleged bribes and kickbacks.
Swiss authorities separately investigated possible corruption involving the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar. FIFA president Sepp Blatter resigned days after winning re-election, although he denied wrongdoing. He was later banned from football activities by FIFA’s ethics committee.
The case is sometimes confused with the broader corruption investigations into individual national associations and sports-marketing companies. FIFA was the international football organization implicated institutionally, while UEFA and the IOC were separate bodies. The scandal led to governance reforms, including term limits and greater financial disclosure requirements.