The $150 million in illegal gifts that prosecutors traced to top FIFA officials could have funded soccer fields, training academies and equipment for resource-starved programs in developing nations, NBC News reported. "A lot of these developing countries depend upon, for their youth development programs, grants from FIFA," Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly T. Currie of the Eastern District of New York said. "And the bribe money that comes out of the pot, if you will, for the value of these marketing rights takes money away from soccer fields and soccer balls for kids." In an ironic twist, FIFA has grown quickly over the past decades by cultivating the "beautiful game" in the developing world — exactly where millions in the alleged bribes and kickbacks would have made the greatest impact.
