FIFA was forced to pay almost £15M ($19M) in compensation to a company that traded in black market World Cup tickets "in an extraordinary case set to tarnish the world governing body's name yet again," according to Nick Harris of the London DAILY MAIL. FIFA may also be forced to pay out "as much again in a related case, opening a can of worms about the scale of historic touting corruption implicating top officials." Former FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke lost his job after being suspended in Sept. '15 amid a ticket touting scandal. Valcke stood accused at the time of breaking FIFA's rules in agreeing to supply tickets to the 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups to a firm called JB Sports Marketing, "knowing JBSM would sell them way above face value for profit." JBSM had been selling World Cup tickets for "huge black market profits with the help of FIFA insiders" since the '90s. Separately, since '15, JBSM has been engaged in a legal battle to sue FIFA, in effect, for the value of tickets promised to the company by Valcke for the 2014 World Cup "but never actually delivered." It is that case that has "now come to fruition," with a final binding judgement by the Swiss Supreme Court that FIFA owed JBSM $16.8M plus annual interest at 5% for a total of around $18.6M (DAILY MAIL, 12/29).
