Separate to any legal challenges launched by English Premier League clubs over the controversial West Ham United-Carlos Tevez ruling, FIFA President Sepp Blatter on Tuesday said the world governing body would conduct its own investigation of the matter. “We will look at this, and not only if we are asked. We will do it anyway,” the FIFA president declared.
Several weeks ago, an EPL commission fined West Ham $11 million for breaching league rules that prohibit a third party from influencing how a club manages its players. In this instance, a private agreement between the club and Media Sport Investment, the third party owning a financial stake in both Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, said that if either player were to leave the club at the end of the season, MSI would receive approximately $4 million and $1 million for their respective departures. West Ham’s failure to disclose the agreement and the terms it contained were found to have breached EPL transfer rules.
Citing the club’s open admission of guilt and the sensitive relegation situation it found itself in, the commission decided to fine but not deduct points from West Ham for breaching those rules. Other relegation-threatened EPL clubs have cried favoritism and are now pursuing the matter in federal court, but Reuters points out that a FIFA ruling in favor of the EPL consortium would override the original decision. In January, FIFA won a case in Switzerland federal court against Rayo Vallecano of Spain’s La Liga, which granted the organization the legal right to impose or overturn sanctions made by domestic soccer associations.