Alejandro Burzaco (born 1964) is an Argentine businessman, the former CEO of

Torneos y Competencias Torneos y Competencias S.A. (abbreviated TyC, also referred as Torneos) is an Argentine sports communications firm created by businessman Carlos Ávila, associated with Jose Santoro, and Héctor Dayan. It is an important force in the world of Arge ...

(also known as TyC or Torneos), a

sports marketing Sports marketing as a concept has established itself as a branch of marketing over the past few decades, however, a generally accepted definition does not exist. Academicians Kaser and Oelkers (2005, p. 9) define sports marketing as 'using spor ...

company. A warrant was issued with regards arresting Burzaco in relation to the

2015 FIFA corruption case In 2015, United States federal prosecutors disclosed cases of corruption by officials and associates connected with the Fédération internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the governing body of association football, futsal and beach s ...

, where he is alleged in

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

documents to have paid $110M in bribes to allow TyC to hold on to regional football media rights. On 27 May 2015, Swiss police and assisting FBI agent missed his arrest, and when they called on his hotel bedroom as he was already at breakfast. Burzaco fled Switzerland, and was subsequently sacked from his position by TyC on 3 June 2015. As he holds dual Italian citizenship, he fled there. With his whereabouts unknown to authorities,

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

issued an alert requesting his arrest. Accompanied by his two lawyers, on 10 June 2015 Burzaco turned himself in to Italian police in the northern city of

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

. Later Alejandro Burzaco became the U.S. government's star witness of the corruption case. In 2017 he told jurors he paid at least 30 people more than $160 million to secure broadcasting rights to South American tournaments and World Cup matches in 2026 and 2030. He also said that

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

, Grupo Televisa SAB, Media Pro, Globo, Full Play Argentina and

Traffic Group Traffic Group is a sports event management company founded in Brazil, headquartered in São Paulo. History Traffic Group holds the television rights to a number of association football matches in the Americas including Copa América, Copa Libe ...

had bribed

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

for the soccer rights. Burzaco pleaded guilty and his firm forfeited more than $110 million convicted by a federal jury in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York in December 2017.

References

1960s births Living people Argentine people of Italian descent 20th-century Argentine businesspeople 21st-century Argentine businesspeople {{Argentina-footy-bio-stub