Charles Gordon Blazer was an American soccer administrator, who held a number of high level positions before becoming a government informant on widespread corruption within organized soccer and subsequently being banned by FIFA in 2015.
24 Facts About Chuck Blazer
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Chuck Blazer was a FIFA Executive Committee member from 1996 to 2013, the CONCACAF general secretary from 1990 to 2011, and executive vice president of the US Soccer Federation.
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In 2013, Chuck Blazer admitted to conspiring with other FIFA executive committee members to accept bribes in conjunction with the failed bid of Morocco and the successful bid of South Africa to become World Cup hosts in 1998 and 2010, respectively.
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Chuck Blazer's admissions came during testimony given at a sealed sentencing proceeding in a New York federal court.
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Chuck Blazer grew up in a middle-class New York City Jewish family in the borough of Queens, where his father ran a stationery and newspaper shop.
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Chuck Blazer attended Forest Hills High School and then took an accountancy degree at New York University.
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Chuck Blazer then spent a number of years selling promotional and marketing items; a first success was supplying buttons for the Smiley craze in the 1970s.
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When his son started playing youth soccer in Westchester County, New York, in 1976, Chuck Blazer started coaching the team even though he had never played the game.
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Chuck Blazer is remembered as a skillful and active administrator, more interested in organizing than coaching.
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Chuck Blazer's position gave him a seat on the board of CONCACAF, where he met Jack Warner.
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Chuck Blazer became president of the Miami Sharks, taking control of the finances, only to leave precipitously after five months in May 1989.
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In 1989, Chuck Blazer convinced Jack Warner to run for CONCACAF president.
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Chuck Blazer managed Warner's successful campaign and was then appointed General Secretary.
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Chuck Blazer was the General Secretary of CONCACAF from 1990 until 2011.
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Chuck Blazer was a member of the FIFA Executive Committee from 1996 to April 2013, when Sunil Gulati was elected to replace him.
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In May 2011, in response to allegations of bribery made by national representatives attending a May 10 meeting of the Caribbean Football Union, Chuck Blazer initiated an investigation of AFC President Mohammed bin Hammam and FIFA Vice President Jack Warner.
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On June 15,2011, Chuck Blazer was questioned by the FIFA Ethics Committee.
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Chuck Blazer began working undercover for the FBI in December 2011.
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On November 1,2014, it was reported that Chuck Blazer had been a confidential informant for the FBI and the IRS, and recorded key meetings between executives for FIFA and for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
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Chuck Blazer was compelled to inform for the FBI and IRS after they uncovered more than a decade of unpaid taxes on hidden, multimillion-dollar incomes.
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On May 27,2015, several FIFA officials were arrested in Zurich, with Chuck Blazer having been a key cooperating witness in the investigation that led to the arrests.
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In exchange for his cooperation, Chuck Blazer agreed to plead guilty to charges that include racketeering, wire fraud, income tax evasion, and money laundering.
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On July 9,2015, Chuck Blazer received a lifetime ban from FIFA from all soccer-related activity.
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Chuck Blazer died on July 12,2017, of colorectal cancer at a New Jersey hospital at the age of 72.