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A league hailed an instant success on the field, the sport’s appeal expanded worldwide.

Then in 1997 came the scandal that rocked soccer’s most popular global sport — and put sport’s credibility on the line, and brought on a wave of accusations of pay-to-play and corruption and abuse.

Soccer’s reputation had changed and players, fans and officials around the world were in shock as it became clear to them how soccer’s governing body, FIFA, had turned its back on players and allowed its officials to profit from their popularity with kickoffs and handball competitions that drew big crowds.

“These allegations have exposed a system that has completely devalued soccer.” Michael E. Bloomberg, New York Mayor

On June 10, the world’s top soccer organization issued a statement saying it had suspended the registration of 10 officials in the world’s four major national leagues: Major League Soccer, the French and Italian Leagues of Football and Spanish La Liga.

The decision followed repeated criticism 더킹카지노of how the governing body had handled the scandal. FIFA had previously banned the United States soccer federation from competing in inte카지노 사이트rnational tournaments and was being sued in separate legal proceedings by the U.S. Football Association over its lack of cooperation and the way it handled the scandal.

The U.S. FA, which had the largest soccer stadium in America, said it was investigating the allegations.

“All of us as a society are affected,” said American soccer expert Bill Gertz, who heads the U.S. Soccer Federation. “We’re not going to stand for this to happen again.”

At FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Swiss Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, center left, arrives with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, left, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at their headquarters. (Edin Dzeko/European Pressphoto Agency)

FIFA’s decision comes as questions remain about the legitimacy of the group’s new financial arm, whose chairman, Gianni Infantino, is in prison awaiting sentencing in the United States in connection with money laundering charges.

FIFA has said the allegations are “unfounded,” but has acknowledged that it paid infusions of millions of dollars to inflate the payouts of players’ salaries by as much as $100 million.
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On a visit to Zurich, Gertz said he was pleased with the response to the allegations.

“This allegation has exposed a system that has completely devalued soccer,” he said.

“That’s a positiv