Panama Data Leak Prompts Raid of Europe Soccer Headquarters
- Swiss police seek details of a 2006 television contract
- Sports marketing company linked to FIFA bribery scandal
A man walks inside the headquarters of European football body UEFA in Nyon on April 6, 2016.
Photographer: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty ImagesPolice in Switzerland raided the headquarters of soccer’s European governing body UEFA to gather evidence about a Champions League contract it signed with a sports marketing company that has since been implicated in the FIFA bribery scandal.
The warrant to search UEFA, one of six regional affiliates of FIFA, and another unidentified company on Wednesday follows the publication of a 2006 contract contained in a giant cache of files leaked from a Panama law firm. The contract shows that sports marketer Cross Trading S.A. bought the rights to broadcast three seasons of the Champions League from UEFA’s marketing agency, TEAM, before charging the TV company, Ecuador’s Teleamazonas, three times the amount it paid.