FIFA: Long-time Blatter ally, Grondona, authorised payments

FIFA has said that Julio Grondona, the former finance chief of the organisation and a long-time ally of president Sepp Blatter, was the person who authorised a $10m payment that is at the heart of the bribery scandal.

Grondona, from Argentina, died last year aged 82 having been a FIFA executive member for 26 years, many of them as chairman of the finance committee. Blatter described him as “a lifelong friend” after his death.