FIFA told the Sports Integrity Initiative that President Joseph S. Blatter has returned the watch given to him by the Brazilian football confederation (CBF) at FIFA’s 64th Congress ahead of the 2014 Brazil World Cup. Last week, FIFA closed its investigation into Greg Dyke, Chairman of England’s Football Association, after he returned a watch given to him by the CBF. ’As a consequence, the adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee has decided to close the proceedings in respect of a possible breach of the FIFA Code of Ethics’, read 7 April FIFA statement.

The CBF gave watches manufactured by Swiss company Parmigiani Fleurier, which created a collection of watches for the 2018 World Cup as part of its partnership with the CBF, to 65 people. These people comprised the 28 officials on the FIFA Executive Committee, a representative from each of the 32 Member Associations competing in the World Cup, and a representative from each of the 10 South American football confederation (CONMEBOL) member associations.

‘CBF produced records indicating that it obtained the watches from Parmigiani, a CBF sponsor, at a price of US$8,750 [€8,300] each’, read an 18 September 2014 FIFA statement. ‘The Investigatory Chamber commissioned an independent appraisal of one of the watches CBF distributed. That appraisal determined that the watch had a market value of CHF25,000 [€24,200]. That value was confirmed by a later appraisal done in Zurich.’ This means that the CBF spent at least €540,000 on watches valued at €1.6 million.

Article 20(1)(a) of the FIFA Code of Ethics prohibits the offering or acceptance of such gifts that have more than ’symbolic or trivial value’. FIFA confirmed that all 65 watches have now been returned and will be auctioned for charity.