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FIFA Paid Blatter $3.76 Million in 2015 | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter looks on during a press conference on December 21, 2015 in Zurich after world football’s governing body announced its verdict on corruption case. / AFP / MICHELE LIMINA


Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter looks on during a press conference on December 21, 2015 in Zurich after world football's governing body announced its verdict on corruption case. / AFP / MICHELE LIMINA

Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter looks on during a press conference on December 21, 2015 in Zurich after world football’s governing body announced its verdict on corruption case. / AFP / MICHELE LIMINA

When asked about his salary, former FIFA president Joseph “Sepp” Blatter typically suggested it was “about $1 million.” Turns out it was quite a bit more.

Soccer’s ruling body FIFA said it paid disgraced Blatter 3.63 million Swiss francs ($3.76 million) last year as it published his salary for the first time under new governance regulations.

For the first time, FIFA made public Thursday the salaries it pays its senior officials. Blatter, 80, who has been banned from soccer for six years, tops the list at $3.72 million, followed by the also-banned secretary general, Jerome Valcke, who was paid about $2.17 million.

FIFA also revealed details of salaries paid to FIFA’s executive committee, which will be disbanded and replaced by a larger body after its last meeting Friday. Its members received $300,000 each, and senior vice president Issa Hayatou, who heads African soccer, got an additional $500,000 because he heads the finance committee too.

Blatter’s compensation is about roughly 15 times the salary of the president of the International Olympic Committee, who receives around $242,000 per year, plus generous per diem allowances. It’s roughly on par with what the chief executives of top English Premier League teams get, but far less than the heads of American sports leagues earn.

The pay disclosure is part of a series of reforms adopted by FIFA in February as part of an ongoing rehabilitation effort. The organization is trying decidedly to overcome the huge international corruption scandal that led to charges against dozens of top soccer officials around the world. Earlier this week, FIFA filed for millions of dollars in restitution from the named defendants picturing itself as the victim of bad actors.

“With the recently approved reforms, I believe that we have turned a corner and FIFA is poised to emerge stronger than ever,” FIFA’s new president, Gianni Infantino, said in a statement.

Until Blatter’s case is heard in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, FIFA continues to pay for his driver and an apartment he uses in Zurich.

The annual report also underscored the financial toll the corruption scandal has taken on FIFA. Since the arrests began on May 27, FIFA has retained U.S. law firm Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to conduct an internal investigation and manage its relationship with the Department of Justice. FIFA paid $61.5 million in legal fees in 2015, up from $31.3 million the year before.

The organization also announced it lost $122 million last year, its first deficit since 2002 its first loss since 2002, largely a result of its ballooning legal fees and other damage from the crisis.

“The unprecedented events that occurred in 2015 have impacted upon FIFA’s financial results however the organization’s healthy reserves have allowed it to weather the storm,” the Swiss-based group said in a statement.