Adidas Hints at Dropping FIFA Sponsorship Over Corruption Trial Outcome

World Cup sponsors Adidas have stated they ‘would have a problem’ if FIFA are found to have broken the law by a United States investigation into bribery amidst the current ongoing scandal.

There have been many allegations surrounding the world’s football governing body in regard to some executives within the organization taking bribes as part of decision processes for future tournaments. 

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A long-term enquiry continues into the alleged illegal money transferring, but a chief executive from the sports manufacturer has suggested if such accusations are proven to be true, they would potentially have to reevaluate their current agreement with FIFA. 

“We expect from our partners that they abide by the laws”, Adidas boss Kasper Rorsted told Bild am Sonntag, as quoted by Reuters. 

“If a partner is convicted we have a problem with that. We then have to solve that.”

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The comment comes in the wake of a prosecution witness testifying that Mexico’s Grupo Televisa and Brazil’s Globo were part of a $15m (£11.3m) bride to one of the governing body’s executives to secure media rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cup tournaments.

For the past two years FIFA have been attempting to regain some trust from the world of football after entering the biggest crisis in their history. 

In 2015 an indictment in the United States was focused towards several dozen of the organization’s officials on corruption-related charges.

Since then, the overseers of world football have instated Gianni Infantino as the president of the governing body following his election in February 2016 after the demise of former head Sepp Blatter, who was disgraced in December 2015 after being found guilty of a series of rule breaches, including a conflict of interest and dereliction of duty.