FIFA bans whistleblower Blazer from football for life

GENEVA

FIFA has banned for life its former executive committee member Chuck Blazer, who turned whistleblower for the FBI.

"Blazer committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly during his time as an official in different high-ranking and influential positions at FIFA and CONCACAF [Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football]," football's top governing body said in a statement on Thursday.

"In his positions as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, payment and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, bribes and kickbacks as well as other money-making schemes," the statement said.

Blazer has admitted to accepting bribes over the selection of host nations for the 1998 and 2010 world cups, according to U.S. court documents unsealed last month.

He was a FIFA executive committee member from 1996 to 2013. In his testimony during a bribery investigation in 2013, Blazer said that he and other members of the committee agreed to receive bribes in exchange for votes in favor of France and South Africa as 1998 and 2010 World Cup hosts respectively.

The release of the documents came days after the U.S. Department of Justice indicted 14 individuals on charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering that involved the world's football governing body.

Seven of those were arrested in Zurich and are awaiting extradition to the U.S. Four others had already been charged, including Blazer, whose cooperation as a key cooperating witness in the investigation.

The case has sent shockwaves across the world, forcing longtime FIFA head Sepp Blatter to announce his resignation four days after being re-elected in May 29.