Mr. Blatter was defiant after winning his fifth term, declaring “I forgive but I don’t forget,” raising the question of what led to his about-face. One answer may come today, when a judge in New York is expected to order the release the transcript of a 2013 hearing in which Chuck Blazer, a former member of FIFA’s executive committee who is now cooperating with the American authorities, pleaded guilty to corruption charges.
The Interpol alerts, so-called red notices, issued at the request of the United States, include the former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, who is from Trinidad and Tobago and is accused of accepting bribes in connection with the awarding of the 2010 World Cup to South Africa; Nicolás Leoz, a Paraguayan citizen and former FIFA executive committee member; Alejandro Burzaco, an Argentine who controls a sports marketing business based in Argentina; Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, Argentines who own a sports marketing business; and José Margulies, a Brazilian citizen who owns broadcasting businesses.
Publishing head shots of the six men on its website, Interpol said they were wanted “for charges including racketeering, conspiracy and corruption.”
Red notices are issued by Interpol to inform member nations that an arrest warrant has been issued for an individual, and that Interpol is seeking “the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action.” But, crucially, red notices are not international arrest warrants, and Interpol does not have the power to compel other countries to arrest the subject of a red notice.
Mr. Blatter, a tenacious leader who has managed to distance himself from scandal in the past, appeared to yield to mounting pressure on Tuesday, when he announced his resignation. Speaking in French in front of a sparse audience at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, he said he would resign, although that process will take months.
Mr. Blatter showed up for work on Wednesday at FIFA headquarters, and a briefing was held for 350 staff members, a BBC reporter said on Twitter.
On Wednesday, Mr. Blatter’s daughter, Corinne Blatter-Andenmatten, told the Swiss daily newspaper Blick that her father’s resignation was not prompted by the corruption accusations. “His decision has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the allegations going around,” she told the paper.
As FIFA officials pledged to clean up the way the organization is run, Qatar sought to rebut a blog post on the website of The Washington Post alleging that 1,200 migrant workers were estimated to have died while working in construction for the 2022 World Cup. “This is completely untrue. In fact, after almost five million work-hours on World Cup construction sites, not a single worker’s life has been lost,” the Government Communications Office was quoted as saying by the state-run Qatar News Agency.
Qatar, which has fought calls for it to be stripped of the 2022 World Cup over concerns about the bidding process, has also faced widespread criticism for the safety and treatment of migrant workers building the stadiums needed for the tournament. The Qatari government has since said that it wants to prevent abuses, and has introduced a system of oversight intended to ensure that workers’ salaries are paid, but a report by Amnesty International released last month said that Qatar was failing to live up to its promises.
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