FIFA, world soccer's governing body that was rocked by another massive corruption scandal on Wednesday, has donated between $50,001 to $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation, according to the foundation's donor list.
Nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives have been charged with racketeering, conspiracy and corruption in a "24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer," according to the indictment. Swiss police arrested seven of the FIFA officials in Zurich early Wednesday.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association has partnered with the Clinton's global charity on several initiatives dating back at least five years, the Daily Beast first reported.
The Foundation lists donors and their "cumulative lifetime" of contributions through 2014.
In 2010, Bill Clinton lobbied to host the 2022 World Cup in the U.S. in his role as the Honorary Chairman of the U.S. bid. When the bid unexpectedly went to Qatar, the first Muslim nation to host the World Cup, Clinton said, "The FIFA people were in a mood to give it to people who didn't have it." He added, "They wanted to say, here's a good non-terrorist, non-bigoted way of embracing — no really, I'm not trivializing this — a way to embrace the modernization attempt of the Middle East."
According to the donor list, the Clinton Foundation received portions of total donations worth $250,0001 to $100,000 from the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee (Q22) in 2014. The committee is tasked with preparing the nation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Qatar has faced a number of accusations surrounding its bid, including paying FIFA officials $4.5 million during the bidding process. An independent committee created by FIFA that cleared Qatar and Russia's bids for the 2022 and 2018 World Cups came under fire last year.
Qatar has also been heavily criticized for the exploitation of hundreds of thousands migrant laborers who work in oppressive conditions on construction sites for the 2022 World Cup. Most recently, Qatar did not allow thousands of Nepalese migrant workers to return home for the funerals of loved ones killed in last month's deadly earthquake.
According to the Clinton Foundation, the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee partnered with the Qatar National Food Security Programme in 2013 to commit "utilizing its research and development for sustainable infrastructure at the 2022 FIFA World Cup to improve food security in Qatar, the Middle East, and other arid and water-stressed regions throughout the world."
The Foundation has also received donations worth $1 million to $5 million from the Qatari government.