Father and son Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis, who own the Argentine sports marketing firm Full Play, have formally admitted to bribing FIFA officials to secure lucrative broadcasting rights. In their statements to US investigators, the pair conceded that they paid millions of dollars in illicit kickbacks to obtain exclusive rights for high-profile footballing events, including FIFA World Cup qualifiers and several editions of the Copa América.

The admissions stem from the landmark 2015 corruption scandal that threw global football into crisis. That investigation exposed systemic racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering tied to the sale of media and marketing rights across FIFA, CONCACAF, and CONMEBOL—the governing bodies for North, Central, and South American football.

The watershed moment of that probe occurred on 27 May 2015, when Swiss authorities, acting at the request of the US Department of Justice, raided a luxury five-star hotel in Zurich and arrested seven high-ranking FIFA officials. The ensuing fallout forced long-standing FIFA President Sepp Blatter to step down a year later, igniting an extensive, multi-year international investigation that remains active.

By entering a guilty plea, Hugo and Mariano Jinkis have agreed to pay $50 million (approximately 600 crore Bangladeshi Taka) in financial penalties and forfeitures to resolve the criminal charges against them and avoid custodial sentences.

The confession comes at a sensitive time for world football’s governing body. FIFA continues to face persistent questions regarding its governance and operational transparency, with Infantino encountering sharp criticism over recent decisions surrounding major tournament hosting and commercial agreements. This latest admission by the Argentine executives reopens old wounds, reinforcing long-held concerns about historical corruption within the international footballing establishment.