FIFA fire four in MasterCard row

FIFA have sacked four top executives in the wake of a damaging US court judgment that ruled they “lied repeatedly” in negotiations with sponsors MasterCard.

The four — TV and marketing director Jerome Valcke plus marketing executives Stefan Schuster, Tom Houseman and Rob Lampman — have been dismissed after being named in the court judgement as having seriously misled the credit card giants.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter decided on swift action to limit any damage caused by the controversy.