The independent Ethics Committee has donated 48 watches to global NGO streetfootballworld. The investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee earlier demanded that the watches be turned over to the Ethics Committee after determining that they were unauthorised gifts as per the FIFA Code of Ethics.
The Brazilian Football Association (CBF) had offered the watches as gifts to certain football officials, including members of FIFA’s Executive Committee and representatives of football associations, attending the 64th FIFA Congress held in Brazil prior to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. On 18 September 2014, under the leadership of its former chairman, the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee decided not to open formal ethics proceedings in this matter against officials who had received the gifts provided that they return them to the Ethics Committee.
After having investigated the matter thoroughly, the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee found evidence that from the initially intended 65 watches offered by the CBF to football officials, several officials had, in fact, not received a watch. Following said investigations and after contacting all potential recipients, 48 watches were returned to the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee.
The investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, led by its chairman Dr Cornel Borbély, decided that all watches returned to FIFA would now be donated to the international non-profit organisation streetfootballworld, who will directly invest all resources generated through the sale of the watches into initiatives across Brazil that use football to drive social change. The investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee considers the matter to be closed.
For additional inquiries:
Andreas Bantel
Spokesman for the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee
c/o Bantel & Partner AG
Othmarstrasse 8
CH-8008 Zurich
Office +41 44 389 17 05
Mobile +41 79 231 56 62
andreas.bantel@bantel.ch
Jürgen Griesbeck
streetfootballworld
CEO
Waldenserstr. 2-4, D-10551 Berlin
griesbeck@streetfootballworld.org
+49 176 11 78 00 03
Vladimir Borkovic
streetfootballworld
COO
borkovic@streetfootballworld.org
+49 176 11 78 00 01
