A termination letter sent by FIFA said that the body was due half of the advertising revenue from a '05 media deal it signed with a Caribbean football organization but "did not receive any of it," according to Mark Hosenball of REUTERS. The contract was signed between FIFA and the Caribbean Football Union and "involved media rights in parts of the Caribbean for the 2010 and 2014 World Cup competitions." In the July '11 letter, two FIFA officials wrote to the CFU to say they had expected FIFA to receive 50% of all revenue from the sale of broadcast sponsorship and TV commercials. FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke and Marketing Dir Thierry Weil wrote, "To date, FIFA has not received any payments." It "could not be determined how much money was at stake in this instance." Reuters was "unable to obtain a copy of the contract." A FIFA spokesperson declined to comment, "citing ongoing investigations." CFU General Secretary Neil Cochrane said in a statement that the group's current exec committee has "no knowledge of contracts signed by its previous leader, Jack Warner," and that those contracts "had not been ratified by the group's governing congress" (REUTERS, 9/15). CMC reported former FIFA anti-corruption adviser Mark Pieth is calling for a "criminal investigation" against FIFA President Sepp Blatter for selling under-valued World Cup TV rights to Warner. Pieth: "Blatter has to defend himself against a form of embezzlement charges. That’s a topic they need to discuss" (CMC, 9/16).
SUPPORT FOR PLATINI: REUTERS' Amlan Chakraborty reported a senior South Asian Football Federation official said that its seven members will vote for UEFA President Michel Platini in next year's FIFA presidential elections. Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has already backed Platini as his "preferred candidate for football's top job in the February elections," which have been forced by the "worst crisis in FIFA's 111-year history." SAFF General Secretary Anwarul Huq said that the SAFF "would follow the AFC's lead." Huq: "The AFC chief has already backed Platini. We will go with the AFC. At the end of the day, voting is an individual thing but we will go with AFC as we always do" (REUTERS, 9/16).
STEPPING DOWN: The AP's Rob Harris reported a FIFA staffer who was "at the center of an internal investigation into an alleged attempt to discredit" Platini has left the governing body. FIFA said in a statement, "Thomas Renggli resigned on 1 September." FIFA was "responding to questions about the outcome of the investigation." Renggli, who was working as part of Blatter's staff, said, "I am still under contract" (AP, 9/16).
