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Fifa ethics committee orders FAs to return £16,000 luxury watch
Fifa has ordered the FA and other football associations (FAs) to hand over a £16,000 luxury watch given to management by the Brazilian football federation (CBF).
According to Fifa, officials from the 32 nations competing at this summer’s World Cup were given the watches as a gift from the CBF at a pre-tournament congress in Brazil.
28 Fifa executive committee members were also given watches, which the CBF is said to have acquired for a cut-price of around £5,000 from sponsor Parmigiani.
The 60 Fifa committee members and association representatives have now been ordered by football’s governing body to hand over the watches by 24 October. They will then be donated to “organisations committed to corporate social responsibility projects in Brazil”.
The Fifa code of ethics prohibits football officials from offering or accepting gifts that have more than “symbolic or trivial value”.
A Fifa statement read:
The CBF should not have offered the watches, and those who received gift bags should have promptly checked whether the items inside were appropriate and, upon discovering the watch, either returned it or, like the football officials referred to above, reported the matter to the Investigatory Chamber.
Fifa's clamp down on the breach of its code of ethics follows accusations of corruption surrounding Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
Various sponsors of the organisation, including Adidas, Coca-Cola and Hyundai, have voiced concerns about the allegations.
In June ,Fifa sponsor Sony said:
As a Fifa partner, we expect these allegations to be investigated appropriately.We continue to expect Fifa to adhere to its principles of integrity, ethics and fair play across all aspects of its operations.