Humberto Grondona, son of
Argentina's senior FIFA vice-president Julio Grondona, has admitted to
selling on tickets to a friend contrary to FIFA's regulations.The
tickets are among those seized by Brazilian police as part of
investigations into ticket touting, which have seen 11 people arrested.
Pictures of one of the tickets seized with Humberto Grondona's name on
it have been circulated.The
disclosure that Grondona's son has been involved is a huge embarrassment
to FIFA - he has a post as a technical adviser to the world governing
body. His father has been a FIFA executive committee member since 1988
and is also chairman of FIFA's powerful finance committee.Grondona
junior told Argentinian TV station TYC he spent more than $9,000
(£5,244) on 24 category one tickets for group games and knock-out
matches, including a semi-final and the final, and had sold some on to a
friend.He said: "I bought
all of them for more than 9,000 dollars.
I have a friend that is someone
very well known in Argentina who wanted to come and I sold to him some
of these tickets."He on his part gave the tickets to another friend. What they then did with the tickets I have no idea."
Asked
for the identity of the person he sold the tickets to, Grondona junior
added: "I cannot tell you. But do you think I would dirty my hands for
220 dollars (£128)? The truth is that I have no idea where these tickets
went to."FIFA emailed all
employees and everyone on the World Cup delegation list before the
tournament warning them not to sell on tickets, which have an electronic
chip that makes them traceable to the person who purchased them.Delia
Fischer, FIFA's head of media, would not comment on the investigation
but said anyone found to have breached regulations would face
disciplinary action.She told
a news conference in Rio: "We cannot comment on ongoing investigations
but anyone who has violated the regulations will be sanctioned."I cannot go into specific cases but we need to see the source of the original tickets and how the tickets ended up somewhere."Even where you have specific names you cannot always jump to conclusions."
Fischer confirmed that anyone found having breached the regulations can have their tickets for any future games removed.She
added: "If someone is violating something then tickets can be cancelled
accordingly but we need to see who is involved, which tickets they are
and then we can take necessary action."
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