FIFA fires four employees involved in World Cup sponsoring
dispute
ZURICH, Switzerland: FIFA fired its director of marketing and TV and three
others in the division Tuesday for dishonest sponsorship negotiations.
Jerome Valcke, Tom Houseman, Robert Lampman and Stefan Schuster were let
go following a ruling in a U.S. court that said MasterCard could sponsor
the 2010 and 2014 World Cups because FIFA didn't play fair when it awarded
the rights to credit card rival Visa.
"The FIFA employees who had conducted negotiations with Visa and
MasterCard were accused of repeated dishonesty during negotiations and
of giving false information to the FIFA deciding bodies in question,"
FIFA said in a statement.
"Even though the judgment has proved to be very biased in favor of
MasterCard, the fact cannot be overlooked that FIFA's negotiations breached
its business principles. FIFA cannot possibly accept such conduct among
its own employees."
Last Thursday, a federal court judge in New York blamed FIFA for misleading
Mastercard, which had a right of first refusal after sponsoring the 2006
tournament in Germany. MasterCard is the country's second largest credit
card brand behind Visa.
FIFA said it is considering lodging an appeal against the court's judgment,
while also seeking suitable solutions for all parties involved.
Visa said it negotiated its global sponsorship agreement in good faith
after FIFA assured it the deal was valid and did not conflict with any
of MasterCard's rights.
Valcke, who was told of his dismissal Monday, declined to comment when
contacted by The Associated Press.
, December 12, 2006.
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