For those who have followed the recent corruption-related controversies lingering over global soccer, it most likely required little more than a glance at the list of officials implicated in the United States Department of Justice’s investigation to notice a pattern: Most of the executives have, or had, connections to Concacaf, the regional governing body overseeing soccer in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Yes, much of the public’s attention regarding malfeasance in soccer has focused on FIFA and its outgoing president, Sepp Blatter. But the deep-rooted corruption alleged within Concacaf, starting with its recently ousted president, Jeffrey Webb — who is one of the officials awaiting extradition after being arrested at a hotel in Zurich in late May — was staggering.