Chuck Blazer
| Chuck Blazer | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Charles Gordon Blazer April 26, 1945 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Soccer administrator, informant |
| Criminal charge | Income tax evasion, money laundering, racketeering, and wire fraud |
| Criminal status | Pleaded guilty, awaiting sentencing |
Charles Gordon "Chuck" Blazer (born April 26, 1945) is an American former soccer administrator, who held a number of high level positions before becoming a government informant on widespread corruption within organized soccer. In 2013, 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. Blazer's admissions came during testimony given at a sealed sentencing proceeding in a New York federal court. He was a FIFA Executive Committee member from 1996 to 2013, the CONCACAF General Secretary from 1990 until 2011, and Executive Vice President of the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Blazer grew up in the New York borough of Queens where his father ran a stationery and newspaper shop. He attended Forest Hills High School and then took an accountancy degree at New York University. On graduating he enrolled at NYU's Stern School of Business but did not complete his MBA. He then spent a number of years selling promotional and marketing items; a first success was supplying buttons for the Smiley craze in the 1970s. When his son started playing youth soccer in Westchester County, New York, in 1976, Blazer started coaching the team even though he had never played the game. He is remembered as a skillful and active administrator, more interested in organizing than coaching. He advanced in youth soccer administration up to the Eastern New York State Soccer Association. In 1984, persuading Pelé to campaign for him, he was elected to the United States Soccer Federation as executive vice president in charge of international competition. In the next two years the US mens soccer team played 19 matches, having played only two in the two years before Blazer's election. He played a central role in the decision to make the successful bid for the 1994 World Cup, and also during this time the US women's soccer team was formed. His position gave him a seat on the board of CONCACAF where he met Jack Warner. In 1986, after failing to win re-election, he co-founded the American Soccer League, running it from his home. It lasted only two years, Blazer being forced out by the owners who felt they had been kept in the dark about finances. He then 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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