"Last Week Tonight" host John Oliver did a 13-minute segment on FIFA on his HBO show Sunday night.

It was masterful.

He touched on nearly every contemporary criticism of the organization, ripping them for everything from 2014 World Cup costs to Qatar's abysmal human-rights record.

The litany of things he talked about:

• The $270-million stadium in Manaus— an Amazon outpost without a professional team and no need for a giant soccer stadium.
• FIFA reaping the profits of the World Cup while leaving Brazil with the costs.
• FIFA forcing Brazil to repeal a public-safety law that banned the sale of alcohol in stadiums: "FIFA seemed anxious to protect Budweiser from a law designed to protect people."
• FIFA's tax-exempt status as a nonprofit, even though it has $1 billion in the bank: "When your rainy-day fund is so big you've got to check it for swimming cartoon ducks, you might not be a nonprofit anymore."
• FIFA's propaganda film.
• Sepp Blatter saying the way to boost interest in women's soccer is by having the players wear tighter shorts.

The best part of the 13-minute segment was about the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Here's Oliver talking about the heat and bribes:

"You are hosting the World Cup somewhere where soccer cannot physically be played. That's like if the NFL chose to host the Super Bowl in a lake."

"There are now allegations that some FIFA executives took bribes to put the World Cup in Qatar. And I hope that's true, because otherwise it makes literally no sense."

Here's the full video:

SEE ALSO: 17 Reasons Why The Qatar World Cup Is Going To Be A Disaster

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Several top officials at FIFA, soccer's world governing body, were hit with corruption charges on Wednesday.

Authorities showed up to a five-star hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, where FIFA was having its annual meeting, to make the arrests.

In an extensive statement, the US Department of Justice accused the officials of a "24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer." 

The DOJ's indictment charges 14 defendants with racketeering, wire fraud, money-laundering conspiracies, and other offenses. The charges relate to more than $150 million in alleged bribes and kick-backs from the 1990s to today.

Swiss authorities announced on Wednesday that they had launched their own investigation independent of the DOJ case. Swiss prosecutors said they had opened criminal proceedings into the awarding of the next two World Cups — the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. 

Rumors of improper dealmaking have long swirled around FIFA and many observers weren't surprised by the charges of alleged corruption. 

Alexandra Wrage, a governance consultant who has previously worked with FIFA, told The New York Times that the organization is "byzantine and impenetrable." That foundation appears weaker this morning.

Here's a rundown of both investigations:

• The DOJ said in an extensive statement about its investigation that it believes FIFA officials conspired to "solicit and receive well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for the official support of sports marketing executives," who allegedly "shut out competitors and kept highly lucrative contracts for themselves through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks."
• The DOJ explained how this works: "One key way the enterprise derives revenue is to commercialize the media and marketing rights associated with soccer events and tournaments. [FIFA and CONCACAF, the governing body of soccer in North America and the Caribbean] sell them to sports marketing companies, often through multi-year contracts covering multiple editions of the tournaments. The sports marketing companies, in turn, sell the rights downstream to TV and radio broadcast networks, major corporate sponsors and other sub-licensees who want to broadcast the matches or promote their brands."
• The indicted defendants include nine FIFA officials and four sports marketing executives.

• Former FIFA Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer reportedly helped the FBI build its case against the defendants. He has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, income tax evasion and failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).

• Blazer was the right-hand man of one of the defendants, former FIFA vice president Jack Warner. Blazer reportedly knew about some shady deals Warner was involved in and was suspected of laundering money from FIFA himself.
• The Swiss investigation into two upcoming World Cup tournaments is independent of the one by the US Attorney's office. In the Swiss case, FIFA is considered the injured party. There's been speculation that bribes or other unethical actions might have influenced the awarding of tournaments.
• The 2018 and 2022 World Cups will reportedly proceed as planned.

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Adidas has become the first World Cup sponsor to publicly respond to the news Wednesday morning that FIFA was subject to two separate corruption probes, which resulted in the arrests of several high-ranking officials.

The German sportswear company stopped short of being critical of football's governing body, but instead encouraged FIFA to maintain ethical and compliance standards.

Adidas' statement in full, sent to Business Insider via email, reads:

The Adidas Group is fully committed to creating a culture that promotes the highest standards of ethics and compliance, and we expect the same from our partners. Following today’s news, we can therefore only encourage FIFA to continue to establish and follow transparent compliance standards in everything they do.

Adidas is the world’s leading football brand and we will continue to support football on all levels.

FIFA is subject of two separate criminal investigations: One from the Swiss Attorney General regarding the voting process for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the other from the US Department of Justice, which resulted in the arrest of nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives on Wednesday.

An indictment from the US Department of Justice has charged 14 people with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracies in connection with their participation in a "24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer."

In a press conference held in Zurich earlier today, FIFA's spokesman Walter De Gregorio said this morning's arrests offer an opportunity to clean up the organization.

He added: "This for FIFA is good. It's not good in terms of image; it's not good in terms of reputation, but in terms of cleaning up everything we did in the last four years, this is good."

Business Insider has contacted all of the other FIFA World Cup sponsors for comment on today's arrests. The only other sponsor apart from Adidas to respond was automaker Hyundai, which said it would "not be making any comment at this time."

Last year, several World Cup sponsors, including Visa and Coca-Cola, came out publicly criticizing FIFA's handling of its investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

SEE ALSO: FIFA: The World Cups in Russia and Qatar will still go ahead

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The US Department of Justice's corruption charges against nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives is one of the most meaningful steps ever taken to clean up soccer's international governing body.

The most staggering part of the arrests isn't that there is some sort of single, shocking allegation here that will topple FIFA.

It's that these allegations, as broad and all-encompassing as they seem, are related only to a corner of the larger soccer universe.

The scope of the investigation is important. The bribery and corruption charges, which the DOJ says involved more than $150 million over 21 years, are almost exclusively related to tournaments in North America (organized by Concacaf) and South America (organized by Conmebol) that are second- and third-tier competitions in the grand scheme of things.

We're talking about bribery related to Concacaf World Cup qualifiers, the Concacaf Gold Cup, the Concacaf Champions League, the Copa América Centenario, the Conmebol Copa América, the Conmebol Copa Libertadores, and the Copa do Brasil. The host selection for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 FIFA presidential election are the only FIFA events mentioned that exist outside the Americas.

There are no charges related to similar continental tournaments in Europe, Africa, or Asia, much less the controversial bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. All nine current and former FIFA executives who got arrested are from the Americas, including Concacaf president Jeffrey Webb.

The reason for this, if the reports are to be believed, is that disgraced ex-Concacaf official Chuck Blazer served as an informant who allowed the FBI important access to the inner workings of the continent's main governing body. In a statement, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch called FIFA's alleged corruption "rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted." If she is to be believed, it stands to reason that Africa, Europe, and Asia are no more or less corrupt than the Americas.

The DOJ didn't touch the widespread corruption allegations related to the 2022 World Cup, which include an allegation from a whistle-blower who says she witnessed three different FIFA executive committee members taking $1.5 million bribes from the Qataris at a conference in Angola before the vote.

After the arrests, a FIFA representative said it was a "good day" for FIFA. He said the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar would go on as planned, as would Friday's presidential election. The implication is that FIFA need only root out its bad apples and then get back to business as usual. But what these allegations depict is a system of corruption, not just a few corrupt individuals. The DOJ points out that "two generations of soccer officials abused their positions of trust for personal gain."

If this is happening across continents and generations in the Americas, it's fair to speculate whether it is happening everywhere.

Acting US attorney Kelly Currie put it best. "After decades of what the indictment alleges to be brazen corruption," she said, "organized international soccer needs a new start — a new chance for its governing institutions to provide honest oversight and support of a sport that is beloved across the world, increasingly so here in the United States."

We've reached out to FIFA for comment.

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Swiss authorities arrested several high-ranking FIFA officials on Wednesday with the intention of extraditing them to the US to face federal corruption charges, as first reported by The New York Times.

While those arrested include some of the highest-ranking soccer officials in the world — including current FIFA Vice President Jeffrey Webb and former FIFA Vice President Jack Warner — FIFA President Sepp Blatter was not among them.

At a press conference Wednesday, a FIFA representative said Blatter is not involved in the scandal.

But Blatter is not totally in the clear yet, according to one of the Times reporters who broke the story.

Reporter Michael S. Schmidt, who was present during the arrests in Zurich, was a guest on "CBS This Morning" when he was asked if Blatter is in the clear.

"No, I don't think he is in the clear," Schmidt told CBS. "I think there are some people in the justice department that want to see what comes of today's indictments. Do any of these executives want to cooperate and what kind of information can they give the government? At that point, the government will look back and reassess and see who else they can go after."

The allegations so far are limited to officials from governing bodies in North America (Concacaf) and South America (CONMEBOL). However, the breadth of the charges, if true, paint a picture of widespread and deeply rooted corruption that is present in FIFA in general. The one person sitting atop FIFA's iron throne is Blatter.

FIFA's presidential election, which Blatter is widely expected to win, is scheduled to take place on Friday.

At a press conference, Loretta Lynch, the US attorney general, said authorities would continue to investigate alleged coconspirators.

Here are Schmidt's comments on "CBS This Morning."

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Baseball fans have now had their first chance to see two of baseball's best young stars — Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals and Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs — face each other in a regular-season series.

But friends and family have been watching Harper and Bryant play with (and against) each other for over a decade.

The two first played together on the same Las Vegas youth baseball team. Harper was 7 and Bryant was 9. Even back then, Bryant told ESPN's Jesse Rogers, Harper was talented enough to play with the older kids:

He was always bigger than the competition. He was always just better, and he was younger. It was crazy to see that, how advanced he was at such a young age. Even now, in the big leagues, he's still very young.

While Harper is entering his fourth season in the majors, he is only 22 years old — a year younger than Bryant, who is working through his rookie year.

Both young players starred on Tuesday night.

With the Nationals trailing the Cubs 1-0 and having failed to score a run throughout the first six innings, Harper launched a home run over the left-field wall to tie the game at 1-1:

An inning later, with the Cubs now behind 2-1, Bryant hit a home run of his own over the left-field wall to even the score again. The Cubs went on to win 3-2.

Though it took Bryant a little bit longer to get to the majors, he is already performing at a high level. In his past 17 games Bryant has hit seven home runs and 18 RBIs to emerge as the early favorite for National League rookie of the year.

Bryant's father, Mike Bryant, told ESPN that Bryant and Harper had their best campaign together when they were on the same club team, the Southern Nevada Bulldogs, as teenagers. Harper was 13 and Bryant 14. The duo led the Bulldogs to multiple championships and had "a lot of big moments":

There was the time Bryce hit a ball over 400 feet when he was just 13. And when Kris pitched a one-hit complete game, and Bryce's home run was the lone score to beat a real good California team. There were a lot them.

The two ultimately chose different paths after that. Harper attended Las Vegas High School for two years, gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated and being labeled "Baseball's Chosen One" at just 16 years old, before earning his GED to attend junior college and be eligible for the 2010 MLB Draft, where he was taken No. 1 overall by the Nationals.

Bryant went to a different high school before attending the University of San Diego for three seasons in which he became a national sensation. He then chose to forgo his senior year and was taken with the No. 2 pick in the 2013 MLB draft by the Cubs.

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Situated between Vienna’s Rathausplatz and the Burgtheater, the Vienna Air King event brings mountain bike slopestyle into an urban setting. Last year, 20 riders – including defending champion Brett Rheeder – demonstrated their greatest tricks in the heart of this historic city.

Video courtesy of Red Bull 

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The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the arrests of officials with the soccer governing body FIFA appeared to be an illegal attempt by the United States to impose its laws on foreign states.

"Without going into details about the charges that have been brought up, we point to the fact that this is another case of the illegal extraterritorial application of U.S. laws," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

It said it hoped the arrests will not be used to tarnish FIFA's image and will not cast a shadow on the organization's decisions, including personnel decisions.

"Once again, we urge Washington to stop trying to set itself up as a judge far outside its borders and to follow the generally accepted international legal procedures," the ministry said.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly)

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WARSAW (Reuters) - European soccer's governing body UEFA has called for Friday's FIFA presidential election to be postponed, secretary general Gianni Infantino told reporters on Wednesday.

"We strongly believe the FIFA Congress should be postponed with new FIFA presidential elections to be organized within the next six months," he told reporters at the Sheraton Hotel.

The world's most popular sport was plunged into turmoil on Wednesday after U.S. and Swiss authorities announced separate inquiries into the activities of soccer's ruling body.

Incumbent Sepp Blatter is standing for re-election to the FIFA presidency against Jordan's Prince Ali bin Al Hussein.

Earlier on Wednesday, seven of the most powerful figures in global soccer faced extradition to the United States on corruption charges after their arrest in Switzerland.

The Swiss authorities also announced a criminal investigation into the awarding of the next two World Cups being hosted in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

U.S. authorities said nine soccer officials and five sports media and promotions executives faced corruption charges involving more than $150 million in bribes.

Infantino, reading from a prepared statement, added: "UEFA shows this FIFA the red card. Today's events are a disaster for FIFA and tarnish the image of football as whole. UEFA is deeply shocked and saddened by them.

"These events show that once again corruption is deeply rooted in FIFA's culture. There is a need for the whole of FIFA to be rebooted and for a real reform to be carried out.

"The upcoming FIFA Congress risks turning into a farce and therefore the European associations will have to consider carefully even if they should attend this Congress...

"The UEFA member associations are meeting tomorrow (Thursday) ahead of the FIFA Congress. At that point, the European associations will decide on what further steps need to be taken to protect the game of football.

"The members of the European executive committee are convinced that there is a strong need for a change through the leadership of this FIFA and we strongly believe that the FIFA Congress should be postponed."

UEFA president Michel Platini declined to comment when asked by Reuters about Wednesday's developments.

(Reporting by Toby Davis, writing by Ken Ferris, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

SEE ALSO: FIFA's 'byzantine and impenetrable' empire is wobbling

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Several high-ranking FIFA officials were arrested on racketeering and corruption charges in Zurich on Wednesday.

Nine current and former FIFA officials are accused of taking more than $150 million in bribes related to tournaments in North and South America.

While the indictment doesn't mention the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and FIFA says the tournaments will go on as scheduled, these charges have revived calls for a re-vote for the heavily criticized 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The host nations for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were voted on by 22 members of FIFA's executive committee in December of 2010. In the five years since the vote, a significant portion of those voters have faced serious corruption allegations.

Two of those 22 voters, Jack Warner and Nicolas Leoz, were were arrested Wednesday on corruption charges. Additionally, three other members of the 2010 FIFA executive committee — Mohammed Bin Hammam, Ricardo Terra Teixeira, and Chuck Blazer — all resigned in disgrace amid corruption allegations since 2010.

The details:

• Jack Warner — One of the nine executive committee members arrested on Wednesday and one of the 22 voting members of the 2010 FIFA executive committee. Warner was suspended in 2011 for offering bribes for FIFA presidential votes, and he was also accused of accepting money for his 2022 World Cup vote for Qatar. The indictment alleges that Warner accepted bribes from a sports marketing company before awarding Conacacaf Gold Cup rights, among other charges.
• Nicolas Leoz— Another member of the executive committee who voted on the 2022 World Cup who was also arrested on corruption charges in Zurich. The incident alleges that he accepted bribes for the Copa America and Copa Libertadores rights.
• Mohammed Bin Hammam— Dropped out of the FIFA presidential race in 2011 after he allegedly bribed 25 Caribbean Football Union members for votes with $1 million, which was distributed by Warner. In 2012, amid investigations of bribery, Hammam resigned shortly before the Fifa Ethics Committee found him guilty of "repeated" violations of the ethics code and banned him for life. In 2014, the Sunday Times claimed that Hammam paid Warner $450,000 in advance of the 2010 vote on the 2022 World Cup and another $1.2 million afterward. 
• Ricardo Terra Teixeira— Was found guilty in 2012 of accepting bribes in the 1990s for the World Cup. 
• Chuck Blazer— A FIFA executive-turned-FBI informant who helped with the corruption arrests on Wednesday. He had previously pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, wire-fraud conspiracy, money-laundering conspiracy, income-tax evasion, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement released Wednesday.

In addition to those five, 10 other members of the 2010 executive committee board are wanted for questioning by Swiss authorities as part of a separate investigation into the 2018/2022 bidding process. Those executives: Issa Hayatou, Angel Maria Villar Llona, Michel D'Hooghe, Senes Erzik, Worawi Makudi, Marios Lefkaritis, Jacques Anouma, Rafael Salguero, Hany Abo Rida, and Vitaly Mutko.

Llona, D'Hooges, Makudi, and another 2010 executive member, Franz Beckenbauer, were all probed in 2014 over a corruption inquiry. Hayatou was also accused of bribery over the 2022 World Cup vote.

To pile onto the increased perception that the 2010 executive committee was corrupt, only 22 members of that committee were even allowed to vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups because of corruption charges. There are typically 24 members of the committee, but two of the members, Reynald Temarii and Amos Adamu, were suspended and denied votes over corruption charges prior to the World Cup voting in 2010.

The corruption arrests only add to the controversy surrounding the 2022 Qatar World Cup. In addition to scheduling conflicts for players, there are several reports about inhumane working conditions for modern-day "slaves" helping build the infrastructure for the World Cup. A campaign by the International Trade Union Confederation, Play Fair Qatarm and NewFifaNow claims, "more than 62 workers will die for each game played during the 2022 tournament."

While the FIFA arrests didn't go after corruption related to the 2022 World Cup specifically, they drew the integrity and legitmacy of the executive committee that picked Qatar further into question.

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Every May the Formula One carnival descends upon the twisty streets of Monte Carlo for the annual Grand Prix of Monaco.

Over the weekend, the narrow streets of the tiny Mediterranean principality are transformed into a full-blown racing circuit.

So far this season, Mercedes-AMG has dominated the series.  The team's duo of drivers  — Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg — have won five of the first six races. However, Ferrari and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel have been resurgent and are now challenging for race victories. 

As the F1 racing series heads for the small principality, Monaco is transformed into ...

...a grand-prix race course!

Over the years, the yacht-filled harbor has become the place to see and be seen.

Following the arrests of several high-ranking FIFA officials on corruption and racketeering charges Wednesday morning, FIFA President Sepp Blatter released a statement welcoming the investigation into his organization.

The full statement:

"This is a difficult time for football, the fans and for FIFA as an organisation. We understand the disappointment that many have expressed and I know that the events of today will impact the way in which many people view us.

"As unfortunate as these events are, it should be clear that we welcome the actions and the investigations by the US and Swiss authorities and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken to root out any wrongdoing in football.

"While there will be many who are frustrated with the pace of change, I would like to stress the actions that we have taken and will continue to take. In fact, today’s action by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General was set in motion when we submitted a dossier to the Swiss authorities late last year.

"Let me be clear: such misconduct has no place in football and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game. Following the events of today, the independent Ethics Committee – which is in the midst of its own proceedings regarding the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups - took swift action to provisionally ban those individuals named by the authorities from any football-related activities at the national and international level. These actions are on top of similar steps that FIFA has taken over the past year to exclude any members who violate our own Code of Ethics.

"We will continue to work with the relevant authorities and we will work vigorously within FIFA in order to root out any misconduct, to regain your trust and ensure that football worldwide is free from wrongdoing."

Blatter was not among those arrested by authorities. According to a FIFA representative, he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing, and was not involved in the scandal.

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It has been six years since Bryce Harper first landed on the national radar when the then-16-year-old graced the cover of Sports Illustrated with the title "Chosen One." Harper is also already in his fourth MLB season, so it is easy to forget he is still only 22 years old.

More than one-fourth of the way through the 2015 season, Harper is having the breakout year many have been waiting for, and it is even greater than anybody could have imagined.

Consider this: Harper is on pace to hit .330, with 60 home runs, 95 extra-base hits, and a 1.200 OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage). In MLB history, only three players have ever even hit .320 with 50 home runs and a 1.200 over a full season, Babe Ruth (three times), Jimmie Foxx, and Barry Bonds during his record-setting 73-home run season.

Harper is doing so much at such a young age that if he keeps up this pace for the rest of this season, he will already be 49 home runs ahead of where Hank Aaron was on his way to hitting a then-record 755 career home runs.

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The US Department of Justice arrested nine FIFA officials and five sports marketing executives on bribery and corruption charges in a dramatic raid in Zurich on Wednesday.

The indictment alleges corporate executives paid bribes and kickbacks to FIFA officials in exchange for the media and marketing rights to tournaments in North and South America.

According to the DOJ, most of the major continental tournaments in the Concacaf (North America) and CONMEBOL (South America) regions in the last 20 years were associated with bribery.

In a statement, Attorney General Loretta Lynch called FIFA's alleged corruption "rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted."

At 164 pages, the indictment depicts a system where soccer officials would rise to power, sell media and marketing rights to certain tournaments to marketing companies, and then solicit bribes from people associated with those companies every time a new tournament rolled around. It also contains some allegations related to the 2010 World Cup and 2011 FIFA presidential election.

Here are the most damning allegations:

• The sports marketing company Datisa allegedly agreed to pay $110 million in bribes to CONCACAF and CONMEBOL officials for four Copa America tournaments between 2015 and 2019, including the 2016 Copa America Centenario (which will take place in the US and include North American teams).

According to the DOJ, Datisa — a new company jointly owned by three existing sports marketing groups from across the region — agreed to pay $20 million in bribes to 11 CONMEBOL officials for each edition of the tournament.

The indictment claims, "Each $20 million payment was to be divided among the bribe recipients as follows: $3 million to each of the 'top' three CONMEBOL officials (the president of the confederation and the presidents of the Brazilian and Argentinian federations); $1.5 million to each of the seven other CONMEBOL federation presidents; and $500,000 to an eleventh CONMEBOL official."

More from the indictment:

• Former Concacaf president Jack Warner allegedly bought a condo in Miami in 2005 with money from a Concacaf-affiliated fund that was partially supported by FIFA's Financial Assistance Programme.
• Warner organized a special meeting of Caribbean soccer officials in Trinidad and Tobago before the FIFA presidential election in 2011. At the meeting, FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam (identified in the indictment as Co-Conspirator #7) talked to the meeting and said he wanted their support. After the meeting, Warner allegedly told the officials they could pick up a "gift" at the hotel's conference room later. In the conference room, the indictment alleges, was an envelope filled with $40,000 for each official provided by Bin Hammam.
• After agreeing to sell the rights to the 1993, 1995, and 1997 Copa Americas to the company Traffic Brazil, former CONMEBOL president Nicolás Leoz allegedly refused to show up at a ceremony to sign the contract. In a meeting afterward, the DOJ says "he did not think it fair that he did not also make money" and solicited a six-figure bribe from Traffic founder Jose Hawilla (identified as Co-Conspirator #2 in the indictment).
• Leoz took bribes from Hawilla until the company lost the Copa America rights in 2011, the DOJ alleges, by which time his payments had ballooned to the seven figures.
• Hawilla allegedly paid the Argentinian football federation "tens of millions of dollars per edition of the Copa America" in exchange for Argentina guaranteeing to use their best players.
• Jack Warner was one of three executive committee members who accepted a $10 million payment on the behalf of the Caribbean Football Union from the South African bid committee to "support the African diaspora," according to the indictment, before the vote for the 2010 World Cup. Warner allegedly diverted some of the money to himself, and paid fellow Concacaf executive Chuck Blazer (identified as Co-Conspirator #1) $750,000 million.
• Before that, Warner allegedly once instructed a family member to fly to Paris, pick up a briefcase full of $10,000 stacks of money provided by a South African bid committee official, and then fly back to Trinidad and Tobago a few hours later.

Harwilla pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and obstruction of justice and agreed to forfeit $151 million, according to the DOJ. Blazer and Warner's two sons also pleaded guilty to corruption charges.

Traffic Sports USA, Inc., and Traffic Sports International, Inc. pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy.

In a statement to the Trinidad Daily Express, Warner said, "I have been afforded no due process and I have not even been questioned in this matter. I reiterate that I am innocent of any charges."

A FIFA spokesperson welcomed the DOJ's investigation, saying it was a "good day" for FIFA. Their full statement:

FIFA welcomes actions that can help contribute to rooting out any wrongdoing in football. We understand that today’s actions by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice on behalf of the US authorities and the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (initiated by FIFA through the submission of the file on the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bidding process) relate to different matters.

Firstly, the arrest of six individuals this morning in Zurich concerns investigations by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of the State of New York. The Swiss authorities, acting on behalf of their US counterparts, arrested the individuals for activities carried out in relation with CONCACAF and CONMEBOL business.

The second instance follows FIFA’s initiative of presenting the file on the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup™ bidding process to the Swiss Office of the Attorney General in November 2014. The authorities are taking the opportunity of the FIFA Congress to interview those FIFA Executive Committee members who are not Swiss residents who voted back in 2010 and are still in office.

Today, the Swiss Office of the Attorney General announced that it has opened criminal proceedings against persons unknown in relation to the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup™ bidding process. FIFA is fully cooperating with the investigation and is supporting the collection of evidence in this regard. As noted by the Swiss authorities, this collection of evidence is being carried out on a cooperative basis.

We are pleased to see that the investigation is being energetically pursued for the good of football and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken.

Read the entire indictment for yourself here.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2007 after sweeping the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals.

While it's been eight years since the Cavs made it, it's LeBron James' fifth-straight trip to the Finals and his sixth overall.

A part of the NBA world believes LeBron only has a few peak years left. Some believe he's already on the backend of his career.

James didn't win MVP this year, yet still averaged 25 points, six rebounds, and seven assists per game while shooting 49% from the field and 35% from three-point range in a "down season." 

The LeBron James effect is this: He's a walking 50-win season. The Miami Heat won 18 more games than the previous season when he signed there in 2010, and the Cavs won 20 more games this year than last year. Even if his championship count isn't as high as some people would like, he's now 24-17 in Eastern Conference Finals games with career averages of 31 points, six rebounds, six assists per game, ESPN's Brian Windhorst notes. Windhorst adds that LeBron has now won 15-straight Eastern Conference playoff series. He's the first Eastern Conference player to make five-straight Finals appearances since the 1960s Boston Celtics.

This postseason, the Cavs lost Kevin Love to a season-ending shoulder injury after four games, and they lost Kyrie Irving to a knee injury for two games while he played injured for six others. James carried the team, nonetheless, particularly in the conference finals, where he averaged 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 9.3 assists per game.

The Cavs also ran into some injury luck — the Bulls lost Pau Gasol for some of the second round, and the Hawks fought trough injuries to DeMarre Carroll, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, and a Game 3 ejection to Al Horford. But in fairness to the Cavaliers, all of those injuries were equally as devastating as losing Love and Irving.

And despite the monstrous statistics, LeBron hasn't been all that efficient. His jumper has mysteriously disappeared. He's shooting just 31.7% from 8-16 feet away from the basket, 33.8% from 16-24 feet from the basket, and just 18% from three in the postseason.

He's scrapping the Cavs' offense with isolations— inefficient one-on-one plays that have him averaging just .68 points per possession and 32.5% shooting, despite going to them 22 more times than second-closest player in the playoffs, James Harden, and 89 more times than the third, Stephen Curry.

Despite this ill-timed slump, James is still finding ways to will the Cavs to wins. In a pivotal Game 5 against the Bulls, James overpowered defenders in the post en route to 38 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three steals, and three blocks:

In a Game 3 overtime victory over the Hawks, James finished with 37 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 assists. The one caveat was his poor shooting, 14-37, but if you ignore his 0-10 start to the game, he went 14-27 the rest of the way, better than 50%. 

Even as a one-man attack on offense, he was doing what he wants:

Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer, who was an assistant with the Spurs in 2013 when they lost to the Heat in the Finals, says he can see a difference in James (via USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt):

"His confidence has gone to another level. Having watched and prepared — watching how he orchestrates and has a great command for where he wants his teammates and what's important in the moment and the confidence that he has in himself to make the right play, whether it's making a shot, making the pass. As a leader, he's grown. His confidence has grown."

If James and the Cavs play the Warriors in the Finals (assuming the Houston Rockets don't become the first team to ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs), it'll likely be the first time this postseason where the Cavs won't be the favorites. Without a healthy team, Cleveland doesn't seem suited to match the Warriors' depth.

However, that's still not enough to rule them out. Grantland's Zach Lowe noted in his podcast "The Lowe Post" that the LeBron effect is enough to keep you from ever doubting him, saying:

"If Cleveland is playing this way, and they're playing this way with a seven-man team, they shouldn't be good enough to challenge Golden State. They just shouldn't be. Golden State is too good and too deep and too polished, but [the Cavs] have LeBron. And you always wanna say you can't dismiss a team that has LeBron... LeBron is LeBron, and it's scary to just say, 'His team is going to get rolled in the Finals.' It's just, it's too scary."

James is the only player that can find so many ways to leverage his strength over an opponent's. In the midst of this postseason, in which he's playing below par in so many areas, particularly on offense, he's still the focal point of every matchup.

Debating his all-time place is in the NBA is a fruitless task because such comparisons rely on too many variables. For now, LeBron is the most dominant player in the NBA and until he's no longer capable of the performances we've seen this postseason, he's still the biggest deciding factor in the NBA's balance of power.

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The US Department of Justice's charging documents against 14 individuals accused of bribery and racketeering in conjunction with their roles at FIFA, soccer's international governing body barely mention Qatar. 

Nevertheless, the accusations don't reflect well on the oil and gas-rich Persian Gulf monarchy that won the rights to host the 2022 World Cup.

If the allegations made by DOJ prosecutors are accurate, the hosting rights for the 2010 World Cup, the 2011 FIFA presidential election, and a number of South American soccer tournaments were tainted by nearly $150 million in bribery. It's difficult to believe that Qatar's World Cup bid was any cleaner than the rest of FIFA's typically sordid day-to-day business.

Indeed, a 2014 report from former US federal prosecutor Michael J. Garcia found certain FIFA officials were paid $1.5 million each to vote to award Qatar the tournament. FIFA suppressed the publication of Garcia's report, and the organization's only response to the mounting evidence of the 2022 bid's illicit sale has been to insist Qatar's hosting of the World Cup won't be revoked or even reassessed.

It's possible Qatar's hosting rights will be able to weather the most intense legal scrutiny FIFA has ever been subjected to. FIFA is obviously loathe to strip the Middle East of its first-ever World Cup — if the soccer world's sanctioning body is willing to hold the 2022 tournament during the European club season and tolerate widespread labor abuses during the event's preparations, it seems unlikely its plans will be swayed by accusations that haven't even made it to a courtroom yet.

At the same time, the arrests fit into a larger trajectory for the Gulf emirate. Qatar once represented a fresh alternative to the traditionally staid and stability-minded governments of the Persian Gulf. The Qatari monarchy built Al Jazeera into the most important media force in the Middle East, often shattering the region's state-held monopolies on the flow of information. During the Arab Spring, Qatar supported entities like Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Tunisia's Ennahda, betting that the opening of the Middle Eastern political space that started in 2011 would result in a wave of elected Islamist governments.

Outside of the Middle East, Qatar hosted peace talks over the future of Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, attempted to broker agreements between the pariah state of Eritrea and its neighbors, and agreed to host the political office of the Afghan Taliban. Qatar attempted to make itself politically indispensable through maintaining relations with terrorist entities and pariah states— while also hosting Al Udeid Air Base, one of the most important US military installations in the Middle East.

That balance hasn't exactly held.

The fall of the Muslim Brotherhood governments in Egypt and Tunisia dealt a blow to Qatar's prestige, while Al Jazeera was essentially expelled from Egypt over Qatar's support for the Brotherhood. Qatari officials are widely accused of supporting Jabhat al-Nusra, the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria (Nusra head Abu Muhammad al Jawlani granted a rare exclusive interview to Al Jazeera Arabic on May 27th). The peace in Darfur hasn't held, and al Jazeera's expansions into the US and Turkish markets have floundered.

Qatar's World Cup bid was once an unmistakable sign that Qatari hard and soft power were one of the major emerging forces on the global scene. The decline of the public's perception of the Qatari World Cup, now considered an ill-gotten humanitarian catastrophe, has mirrored the drift in the country's standing more generally.

Today's FIFA arrests are further proof there was never any sustainable policy undergirding Qatar's unorthodox and outsized global ambitions. The controversy over the bid is the end result of the world's misplaced hope that the apparently pro-American, peace-minded, Al Jazeera broadcasting regime in Doha would be able to deliver on its desire to be an influential and constructive player on the world stage.

However, the World Cup bid may have delivered the tournament to Qatar, but with these serious allegations, the games won't necessarily come with the prestige the country once hoped for. Instead, the tournament will only expose how unready Qatar was to become a serious global player, and how badly the rest of the world misjudged it. 

SEE ALSO: How the fall of the Soviet Union sparked Iran's nuclear program

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Visa has issued the most critical statement yet from a World Cup sponsor in reaction to the arrests of several FIFA officials on Wednesday on racketeering and corruption charges.

In a statement released on its corporate website, Visa — which has a contract with FIFA to sponsor the World Cup until 2022, at an estimated value of $185 million (£120 million) over a four-year tournament period, according to sponsorship agency BrandRapport - threatened that it would "reassess" its sponsorship if football's governing body does not make changes.

The full statement reads:

Our disappointment and concern with FIFA in light of today’s developments is profound. As a sponsor, we expect FIFA to take swift and immediate steps to address these issues within its organization. This starts with rebuilding a culture with strong ethical practices in order to restore the reputation of the games for fans everywhere.

Visa became a sponsor of FIFA because the World Cup is one of the few truly global sporting events with the power to unite people from around the world through a common love of football. Our sponsorship has always focused on supporting the teams, enabling a great fan experience, and inspiring communities to come together and celebrate the spirit of competition and personal achievement – and it is important that FIFA makes changes now, so that the focus remain on these going forward. Should FIFA fail to do so, we have informed them that we will reassess our sponsorship.

Other sponsors have reacted to the corruption scandal engulfing FIFA in light of yesterday's news, but Visa's statement is the most strongly-worded and the only statement to suggest it could pull its support.

Adidas was first to issue a statement: "The Adidas Group is fully committed to creating a culture that promotes the highest standards of ethics and compliance, and we expect the same from our partners. Following today’s news, we can therefore only encourage FIFA to continue to establish and follow transparent compliance standards in everything they do. Adidas is the world’s leading football brand and we will continue to support football on all levels."

Coca-Cola: "This lengthy controversy has tarnished the mission and ideals of the FIFA World Cup and we have repeatedly expressed our concerns about these serious allegations.  We expect FIFA to continue to address these issues thoroughly. FIFA has stated that it is responding to all requests for information and we are confident it will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities."

McDonald's: "McDonald’s takes matters of ethics and corruption very seriously and the news from the U.S. Department of Justice is extremely concerning. We are in contact with FIFA on this matter. We will continue to monitor the situation very closely.”

Budweiser: "We expect all of our partners to maintain strong ethical standards and operate with transparency," the brewer told Reuters.

Hyundai:Told Reuters it was "extremely concerned."

Gazprom:Told Bloomberg Wednesday's news "doesn't influence" the Moscow-based gas company's sponsorship agreement, which is in place until the end of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

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FIFA has been the subject of most headlines surrounding corruption in the football world going back decades, but much of the indictment brought by the US Department of Justice (which you can read in full here courtesy of Bloomberg) refers to the misconduct of multi-national sports marketing agency Traffic Group.

Even ahead of the indictment's publication on Wednesday, Traffic Group had already been subject to government investigations in Brazil. A well-placed source tells Business Insider the company has been on a "downward spiral" for the past five years in terms of its perception in the industry.

In December, The DOJ says the owner and founder of Traffic Group, José Hawilla, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy (the most severe crime, which has a maximum penalty of 20 years in US jail,) wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. Hawilla also agreed to forfeit over $151 million in ill-gained profits made from bribes and kickbacks from sports governing bodies, sportswear companies, and officials over a two-decade period.

Aaron Davidson, Traffic Group's US president (and also chairman of the North American Soccer League) has also been indicted by US federal prosecutors.

The indictment alleges Traffic Group's corruption began back in the early 1990s when Hawilla cut a deal to acquire the worldwide commercial rights for the CONMEBOL's Copa America national team tournament, soliciting tens of millions of dollars in bribes to do so, which also included deals for sponsorship rights acquired by US sportswear companies.

It is also claimed Hawilla paid Jack Warner (then president of North American football governing body CONCACAF, who has since been indicted by the DOJ) and Charles Blazer (then CONCACAF general secretary, who has since pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion and faces incarceration of up to 10 years) bribes to win rights for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. And the DOJ says in its indictment that Traffic Group also paid bribes for other rights involving federations in Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Nicaragua.

One of the achievements Traffic Group is most famous for is mediating the $369 million deal between Nike and the Brazilian national football team in 1996 — the sports marketing company proudly boasts about this on its website. But, as Bloomberg points out, even this deal looks fishy. The indictment mentions an "unidentified U.S sportswear company" that signed a partnership with the Brazilian football federation in 1996, on which the sports marketing company took a commission, which went on to be paid to a "high-ranking" official at Brazil's football federation CBF.

Nike declined to comment to Bloomberg on the specific allegations but said in a statement: "Nike believes in ethical and fair play in both business and sport and strongly opposes any form of manipulation or bribery. We have been cooperating, and we will continue to cooperate, with the authorities."

A history of corruption

When Business Insider asked several sports marketing executives in the UK — where football was invented and the home of one of the most popular club football leagues in the world — barely any could offer much insight on Traffic Group. But in Brazil, they are well-known, thanks to its relationship with Copa America and CBF.

Even if the arrests had not happened , the "golden era" is over for Traffic Group, said one Brazil-based sports marketing executive, who spoke to Business Insider on a condition of anonymity for fear of "retaliation" as "these guys are like members of the Mafia." Our source added: the last five years the company has been on a "downwards spiral."

Traffic Group started in 1980 selling pitch-side advertising boards at small Brazilian football competitions. From there, it grew up to acquire rights for several competitions and federations such as the South American federation CONMEBOL, reselling broadcast sponsorships.

In 1987, it took over the organization and marketing of the Copa America (America Cup.) The business later expanded its locations to the United States and further afield in the early 2000s. But it is most famous for its relationship with the Brazilian national football team.

That relationship has been subject to scrutiny since the early 2000s. As documented in Leandro Cipoloni's book, "The Dirty Side of Football," there have been two Brazilian government investigations into the CBF and its commercial relationships, concerning bribes and kickbacks. Nobody involved in either organization faced jail time over corruption allegations until now.

Our source said: " In a way, CBF corruption is old news in Brazil. The relationship between Traffic and Brazil has always been dodgy to say the least. Everyone has known it has been going on for a while. There have been TV reports. Two Brazilian parliamentary investigations in the early 2000s ... but MPs were able to stop the publication of the investigation. That was insane - how could a federal report be deemed not suitable for publication? The real news now is that people could go to jail. But corruption within CBF, that’s not news for us."

What's next for Traffic?

Traffic Group was once one of the five biggest sports marketing agencies in the world, according to Reuters. The continued success of the Brazilian football team appeared to be the linchpin of its success. But now, just as Brazil has missed out lifting the World Cup for the past three competitions, Traffic's star has faded.

Traffic didn't do enough to move with the times, according to one source, who says "they just sell rights and players." Other sports marketing agencies offer strategic counsel that stretch from grassroots marketing to digital campaigns.

Cipoloni told Reuters in reaction to Wednesday's arrests: "Now the house of cards is coming down."

"Traffic still makes money from its relationship with CBF and CONMEBOL but they are not the role model they used to be and [if the US DOJ or Swiss DOJ investigations] change those relationships they will not have a business to be in any more," our source said.

He added: "Fifteen years ago when I was thinking about going into sports marketing in Brazil, I said 'I want to be at Traffic.' Now — even five years ago — I would not even think about it."

Our source said the allegations facing Traffic Sports and the scandals surrounding Brazilian football could even put off big multi-national sponsorship agencies, like IEG and Octagon, which recently entered the country in the build up to the 2014 Brazil World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics from staying in the country once the major competitions are over.

Join the conversation about this story »

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FIFA has been the subject of most headlines surrounding corruption in the football world going back decades, but much of the indictment brought by the US Department of Justice (which you can read in full here courtesy of Bloomberg) refers to the misconduct of multi-national sports marketing agency Traffic Group.

Traffic Group had already been subject to government investigations in Brazil ahead of the indictment's publication on Wednesday and a well-placed source within the Brazilian sports marketing industry tells Business Insider the company has been on a "downward spiral" for the past five years in terms of its perception in the industry.

In December, The DOJ says the owner and founder of Traffic Group, José Hawilla, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy (the most severe crime, which has a maximum penalty of 20 years in US jail,) wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and obstruction of justice.

Hawilla also agreed to forfeit over $151 million in ill-gained profits made from bribes and kickbacks from sports governing bodies, sportswear companies, and officials over a two-decade period.

Aaron Davidson, Traffic Group's US president (and also chairman of the North American Soccer League) has also been indicted by US federal prosecutors.

The indictment alleges Traffic Group's corruption began back in the early 1990s when Hawilla cut a deal to acquire the worldwide commercial rights for the CONMEBOL's Copa America national team tournament, soliciting tens of millions of dollars in bribes to do so, which also included deals for sponsorship rights acquired by US sportswear companies.

The indictment also claims Hawilla paid Jack Warner (then president of North American football governing body CONCACAF, who has since been indicted by the DOJ) and Charles Blazer (then CONCACAF general secretary, who has since pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion according to the DOJ statement) bribes to win rights for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The DOJ says in its indictment that Traffic Group also paid bribes for other rights involving federations in Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Nicaragua.

One of the achievements Traffic Group is most famous for is mediating the $369 million deal between Nike and the Brazilian national football team in 1996. The indictment mentions an "unidentified U.S. sportswear company" that signed a partnership with the Brazilian football federation in 1996, on which the sports marketing company took a commission, which went on to be paid to a "high-ranking" official at Brazil's football federation CBF.

It's not clear if Nike is the unidentified company, but Bloomberg notes that the partnership referenced in the indictment happened in the same year that Nike announced its deal with Brazil. 

Nike declined to comment to Bloomberg on the specific allegations but said in a statement: "Nike believes in ethical and fair play in both business and sport and strongly opposes any form of manipulation or bribery. We have been cooperating, and we will continue to cooperate, with the authorities."

Business Insider has contacted Traffic Group for comment and will update this article once a response has been received.

A history of corruption

When Business Insider asked several sports marketing executives in the UK — where football was invented and the home of one of the most popular club football leagues in the world — barely any could offer much insight on Traffic Group. But in Brazil, they are well-known, thanks to its relationship with Copa America and CBF.

Even if the arrests had not happened, the "golden era" is over for Traffic Group, said one Brazil-based sports marketing executive, who spoke to Business Insider on a condition of anonymity for fear of "retaliation" as "these guys are like members of the Mafia." Our source added that the company has been on a "downwards spiral" over the last five years. 

Traffic Group started in 1980 selling pitch-side advertising boards at small Brazilian football competitions. From there, it grew up to acquire rights for several competitions and federations such as the South American federation CONMEBOL, reselling broadcast sponsorships.

In 1987, it took over the organization and marketing of the Copa America (America Cup.) The business later expanded its locations to the United States and further afield in the early 2000s. But it is most famous for its relationship with the Brazilian national football team.

That relationship has been subject to scrutiny since the early 2000s. As documented in Leandro Cipoloni's book, "The Dirty Side of Football," there have been two Brazilian government investigations into the CBF and its commercial relationships, concerning bribes and kickbacks. Nobody involved in either organization faced jail time over corruption allegations, until now.

Our source said: "In a way, CBF corruption is old news in Brazil. The relationship between Traffic and Brazil has always been dodgy to say the least. Everyone has known it has been going on for a while. There have been TV reports. Two Brazilian parliamentary investigations in the early 2000s ... but MPs were able to stop the publication of the investigation. That was insane — how could a federal report be deemed not suitable for publication? The real news now is that people could go to jail. But corruption within CBF, that’s not news for us."

What's next for Traffic?

Traffic Group was once one of the five biggest sports marketing agencies in the world, according to Reuters. The continued success of the Brazilian football team appeared to be the linchpin of its success. But now, just as Brazil has missed out lifting the World Cup for the past three competitions, Traffic's star has faded.

Traffic didn't do enough to move with the times, according to one source, who says "they just sell rights and players." Other sports marketing agencies offer strategic counsel that stretch from grassroots marketing to digital campaigns.

Author of "The Dirty Side of Football" Cipoloni told Reuters in reaction to Wednesday's arrests: "Now the house of cards is coming down."

Our source said: "Traffic still makes money from its relationship with CBF and CONMEBOL but they are not the role model they used to be and [if the US DOJ or Swiss DOJ investigations] change those relationships they will not have a business to be in any more."

He added that the allegations facing Traffic Group and the scandals surrounding Brazilian football could even put off big multi-national sponsorship agencies, like IEG and Octagon, which recently entered the country in the build up to the 2014 Brazil World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics from staying in the country once the major competitions are over.

Our source added: "Fifteen years ago when I was thinking about going into sports marketing in Brazil, I said 'I want to be at Traffic.' Now — even five years ago — I would not even think about it."

Join the conversation about this story »

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The arrests of several FIFA officials on Wednesday on racketeering and corruption charges has already led to a number of big name sponsors questioning whether they will continue with their advertising contracts.

But the charges, which relate to more than $150 million in alleged bribes and kickbacks from the 1990s to today, not only place Qatar's 2022 World Cup hosting in jeopardy, they also could lead to some of the world's biggest brands suing FIFA for advertising and marketing money already spent on the event.

"When the news broke, I was absolutely flabbergasted, as this is huge. This is like no other. Even if you look prior to the corruption news, sponsors were already under huge pressure to pull out as there were hundreds of migrant workers that died building the infrastructure for the event," said Antony Marcou, managing director at sports marketing and tech group Sports Revolution.

"Now with the whole corruption scandal, this isn't just a question about whether a company should pull out of the World Cup, it's a question of whether Qatar will even host it anymore. As a massive corporation that signed a contract to sponsor Qatar, you would have committed to spend millions on active campaigns in the country and elsewhere. You'd have recruited people in local markets, spent money already on billboards and advertising, and everything else. It could be wasted spend.

"Companies could sue FIFA if the Qatar World Cup doesn't happen. Multinationals could also sue if they lost out on a contract and spent money bidding for it. The only people that are going to make a lot of money out of this, is going to be the lawyers."

Visa, which has a contract with FIFA to sponsor the World Cup until 2022, at an estimated value of $185 million (£120 million) over a four-year tournament period, issued the most critical statement yet from a World Cup sponsor in reaction to the arrests of several FIFA officials.

On top of that, other sponsors have reacted to the corruption scandal engulfing FIFA in light of yesterday's news.

You can read what Visa, Coca Cola, Adidas, McDonald's, and Budweiser, say here.

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