FIFA admits luxury watches gifted to top officials

Days before the World Summit on Ethics in Sports, host FIFA is calling for its top executives to hand over designer watches dished out as gifts during the World Cup.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter and the 26 ExCo members received luxury Parmigiani watches worth about $25,000 each from the Brazilian Football Confederation in June. According to a Sunday Times report, they were left in gift bags in their hotel rooms.

FIFA's code of ethics prohibits its officials accepting gifts of more than “symbolic or trivial value”.

FIFA said its ethics committee had been notified about the gifts.

“The Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) distributed commemorative watches at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil from their own sponsor (as part of the association's centennial celebrations) to various people, including the members of the FIFA Executive Committee,” a FIFA statement said.

“The ethics committee was informed about this accordingly and is dealing with the matter.”

FIFA's ethics chiefs are understood to be asking all ExCo members to hand over the luxury watches, if they haven't already done so. 

It also emerged that Michael Garcia, FIFA's top investigator, had already prevented ExCo members receiving a different set of watches before the World Cup.

In its statement on this issue, FIFA said Hublot, the official timekeeper of the 2014 World Cup “provided FIFA with watches as part of the contract and as a form of value in kind”.

“In accordance with internal governance processes, FIFA formally asked the independent chairman of the investigatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee, Michael J. Garcia, and the independent chairman of the Audit & Compliance Committee, Domenico Scala, in June 2014 if it would be acceptable to provide its Executive Committee and the FIFA president with these watches as a souvenir of the 2014 FIFA World Cup,” the statement said.

“The two chairmen determined in June 2014 that this would not be permitted under the organisation's compliance rules and as such it was decided not to distribute any of the watches to any members.”

Garcia last week submitted his 350-page report on allegations of corruption in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process to FIFA's ethics judge Hans-Jochim Eckert, who will decide if any punishments should be handed down to individuals or bidding countries.

The luxury watches incident comes as Blatter prepares to officially open the World Summit on Ethics in Sports at FIFA's Zurich headquarters on Friday.

The Swiss will give a welcome speech. Garcia and Eckert are listed among the speakers for the inaugural conference, which will be streamed live on You Tube.