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Does FIFA corruption scandal mean Women’s World Cup woes for Canada?

Does FIFA corruption scandal mean Women’s World Cup woes for Canada?

The Women’s World Cup will begin in Canada next week under a cloud cast by the indictments and arrests of officials from the sport’s international governing body and its affiliates.

The U.S. State Department announced Wednesday it has indicted 14 officials from FIFA, associated organizations and sports marketing executives, alleging a sweeping bribery and kickback scheme linked to broadcast rights for the World Cup and other tournaments dating back more than two decades.

Swiss authorities arrested seven of those people at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice and announced its own investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Canada Soccer, organizer of the Canada 2015 Women’s World Cup, says they are “extremely disappointed” by these developments but support all efforts to eliminate this type of behaviour in the sport.

“As the host nation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015, the Canadian Soccer Association is confident that the current situation will not impact the competition,” the organization says in a statement.

The organization did not respond to a request for an interview.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup begins June 6 in Edmonton. Over the course of a month, 24 international teams will play matches in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton. The final will be played July 5 in Vancouver.

The federal government spent approximately $15 million to support this event and the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup held last year.

As Yahoo Canada Sports reported earlier this week more than 830,000 tickets had already been sold in the 10 days since sales began. The organizing committee has said it hopes to sell 1.5 million tickets, which would make Canada 2015 the best-selling Women’s World Cup to date.

In an emailed statement to Yahoo Canada News, Bal Gosal, federal minister of state for sport, says the matter is under investigation so it would be inappropriate to comment.

“We are confident this issue will not have a negative effect on the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015,” he says. “We look forward to a very successful event and we know Canadians across the country are excited to cheer on the world’s best women soccer players.”

TSN, whose parent company Bell Media holds the Canadian broadcast rights to the tournament, is speculating that some FIFA officials who believe they might be under suspicion in the ongoing probe may skip any appearance at games in Canada.

That’s because Canada has an extradition treaty with the U.S. and largely “rubber stamps” extradition requests from its neighbour and largest trading partner.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said the indictments this week are “just the beginning.”

The 47-count indictment in the U.S. includes allegations of racketeering, money-laundering, obstruction of justice, tax fraud, and wire fraud.

Four people and two sports marketing companies have already pleaded guilty to related charges.

The highest ranking soccer official indicted praised an Ottawa conference held earlier this month aimed at cracking down on corruption in the sport.

Jeffrey Webb is the vice-president of FIFA and executive committee member, president of the affiliated Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, president of the Cayman Islands Football Association and an executive committee member of the Caribbean Football Union.

“Protecting the integrity in football remains one of CONCACAF’s top priorities,“ Webb says in a statement from Soccer Canada about conference in Ottawa sponsored by FIFA and INTERPOL on combatting match fixing in the sport.

A Canadian anti-bribery expert who tried to implement reforms within FIFA laid the blame for the scandal at the feet of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who is not indicted.

Alexandra Wrage, a Canadian lawyer and president and founder of the international anti-bribery consultant group Trace Inc., resigned two years ago in frustration from an independent panel whose purpose was to reform world soccer’s governing body.

On Twitter, Wrage called on FIFA voters to reject another term for Blatter in Friday’s election for FIFA president.

“Sepp Blatter can’t keep asking to be re-elected to resolve scandals for which he bears responsibility,” Wrage, who was not immediately available for an interview, wrote on Twitter after posting news reports of the arrests.

“Any CEO who presided over such cascading corruption would be long gone.”

Blatter says he cannot be held responsible and condemned the actions of individuals involved