Police Raids Put FIFA Under Intense Scrutiny

The symbolism and timing of the arrest of six football officials in Zurich this morning could hardly have greater impact.

The authorities have hit the game's gilded elite where they felt safest, and on the eve of a FIFA Congress at which President Sepp Blatter was on course for a fifth successive term, despite decades of alleged corruption taking place on his watch.

The Baur au Lac Hotel on the banks of Lake Zurich is one of the city's most luxurious and discreet, a combination that has made it home-from-home for FIFA's elite whenever business brings them to town.

A gilded bolt-hole in a neutral, unaligned Switzerland, all expenses covered by lavish FIFA expense accounts, it is where they might feel most comfortable.

It was here that David Cameron and Prince William came in December 2010 to try and win favour for England's doomed 2018 World Cup bid.

But on Wednesday morning, FIFA delegates received less welcome visitors. Arriving at dawn in anonymous hybrid saloons at a hotel more used to receiving Bentleys, officers from the Zurich Cantonal Police arrested football officials in their rooms.

The Swiss authorities are acting on extradition requests from the US authorities, investigating corruption allegations that appear to relate primarily to CONCACAF, the confederation that runs football in North and Central America, and the Caribbean.

Among those detained is CONCACAF's current president Jeffrey Webb, marked as a potential successor to FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

According to a statement from the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office the investigations concern alleged "bribes and kickbacks" worth around $100m, paid to football officials in exchange for marketing and sponsorship rights to tournaments in Latin America.

The FBI has been investigating alleged corruption at CONCACAF under the former leadership of its former president Jack Warner of Trinidad, and former secretary general Chuck Blazer, for some years.

Warner resigned his FIFA posts in 2011 after being accused of bribing officials.

Blazer is reported to have been co-operating with the FBI after he was threatened with prosecution for unpaid taxes. He is said to have used a bugged key-fob to gather evidence from conversations held during the London Olympics.

These are hugely significant arrests for FIFA and Blatter, who stands for election against a single challenger, Prince Ali of Jordan, on Friday.

He is not among those arrested, and his reaction to previous squalls has been to brush them off and rely on the loyalty of football officials from around the world whose federations have become wealthy thanks to their share of FIFA profits.

They will be among those watching his response.