Interpol suspends €20m Fifa partnership to fight match-fixing

Interpol has suspended its €20m partnership with Fifa until further notice, in a further blow to football’s scandal-hit world governing body following a slew of bribery claims and arrests.

The two organisations signed a 10-year agreement in 2011 to provide funds to combat match-fixing but Interpol’s secretary general, Jürgen Stock, said the decision to freeze cooperation had been made “in light of the current context” surrounding Fifa.

The international police liaison group earlier this month issued six wanted notices for some of the 14 Fifa officials and marketing executives charged with executing a “World Cup of fraud” by US prosecutors over two generations.

They included Jack Warner, the former Fifa vice-president accused of accepting a bribe in return for voting for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup. He denies the allegation and has been bailed in Trinidad and will return to court on 9 July.

Stock, in a statement, said: “All external partners, whether public or private, must share the fundamental values and principles of the organisation.”

Fifa seemed taken aback by the move, and said it was “reaching out” to Interpol for talks. In its own statement, the governing body said: “This successful programme is unrelated to the current issues surrounding Fifa and we believe that this unilateral decision will negatively impact the fight against criminal activity.”

With seven of those arrested still in prison in Zurich awaiting extradition to the US and the outgoing Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, under pressure to quit before a promised presidential election between December and February, it is the latest blow to Fifa’s rock-bottom reputation.

The original agreement, signed in May 2011 shortly before Blatter was re-elected for a fourth term, was closely associated with the longstanding Fifa president and seen as part of his campaign.

At the time it was hailed as the largest ever private donation to Interpol and described as a key intervention in the battle against match-fixing, funding a 10-year programme operating out of Singapore.

Interpol’s surprise move capped another chaotic week for Fifa that also included the departure of its communications director Walter de Gregorio, who is believed to have lost his job after telling a joke on Swiss TV that made light of the police raids.

Elsewhere, the Vatican had earlier on Thursday night suspended a deal to accept charitable funds from Conmebol, the South American football confederation which is implicated in the ongoing US federal investigation into widespread corruption.

Legislators in Paraguay this week lifted the immunity from prosecution granted to Conmebol’s headquarters in Asunción.