Mexico City. The position is the same among Mexican soccer managers: everyone is silent. No one is talking about the investigation into an alleged corruption plot involving the Televisa consortium for bribing FIFA officials to obtain the broadcasting rights for several World Cups, including the next one to be held in Mexico, the United States and Canada in 2026.
Mikel Arriola, president of Liga MX, avoided referring to the issue. Briefly, at times uncomfortable due to the insistence on the magnitude of the case, he responded ambiguously about the preparations, as a certainty that despite everything, Mexican soccer continues its march towards 2026.
-Does nothing that has emerged in recent days shake the preparations for the 2026 World Cup? -he was asked when he arrived at the special guests area at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez a few hours before the Mexico City Grand Prix. .
-We will have a World Cup for the third time at the Azteca stadium; We will also have it at the Rayados and Chivas stadiums. We are going to wait for the draw to see who will have to face the national team, in the meantime to continue supporting with everything.
-Are the preparations still firm despite what has emerged in recent days (with the issue of FIFA and Televisa)? -it was reiterated.
“We are again with time on our hands and with a great World Cup like 2026 is going to be,” he said as if nothing had an effect on the preparations for the next World Cup.
-Doesn’t this (the Televisa scandal) cloud the preparations for the 2026 World Cup?
“Thank you, thank you,” he said as he left, visibly nervous and hurried.
Mexico has thirteen matches scheduled, including the opening match at the Azteca stadium, which will make it the first to host three World Cups, in addition to being the only one to host three opening celebrations.
The investigation into Televisa is being carried out by the United States Department of Justice for the alleged payment of bribes to FIFA leaders to obtain the broadcasting rights for the 2018, 2022, 2026 and 2030 World Cups.
A scandal that became public in 2015 and was named FIFAgate and that a few days ago it reached Emilio Azcárraga Jean, who requested leave from his position as president of the board of directors in the consortium.
On Thursday the decision of the person who had been in office since 1997, after the death of his father Emilio Azcárraga Milmo, was announced.
The effects were immediate in the company’s shares, which reported a drop of 8.86 percent on the Mexican Stock Exchange.
When Alejandro Burzaco, former executive director of the Argentine company Torneos y Competencias, testified in 2017, he made an accusation against Televisa, according to which the Mexican consortium – along with two other companies – had paid 15 million dollars to Julio Grondona, who was a director. of FIFA, to obtain the rights to broadcast the World Cups in 2026 and 2030. On that occasion the television station rejected the accusation.
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