FIFA leadership with corruption, bribery, and vote-rigging related to the election of FIFA president Sepp Blatter and the organization's decision to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively. These allegations led to the indictments of nine high-ranking FIFA officials and five corporate executives by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges including racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. On 27 May 2015, several of these officials were arrested by Swiss authorities, who were launching a simultaneous but separate criminal investigation into how the organization awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Those among these officials who
53rd FIFA Congress 53rd FIFA Congress The 53rd FIFA Congress was held in May 2002 in Seoul, South Korea before the 2002 FIFA World Cup. It was the annual meeting of the international governing body of association football FIFA. The congress saw the re-election of Joseph "Sepp" Blatter as the President of FIFA. The election for the President of FIFA was held at the congress, with the incumbent, Joseph "Sepp" Blatter facing a challenge from the Cameroonian football executive and president of the Confederation of African Football, Issa Hayatou. Blatter won with 139 of the 195 votes cast. Like the previous presidential election