FIFA member behind illegal World Cup ticket sales

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A FIFA member provided thousands of World Cup tickets sold illegally at games for millions of dollars, a Brazilian police chief said on Thursday.

Police commissioner Fabio Barucke said "someone from FIFA" and "an intermediary from Match Hospitality", FIFA's ticket agency, had channelled the tickets onto the black market.

The FIFA figure, who was not identified, is believed to be staying at the Copacabana Palace, a luxury Rio de Janeiro hotel, Barucke told reporters.

Brazilian police on Tuesday arrested 11 people accused of selling tickets that may have been obtained through a contact at football's governing body.

A police investigation, dubbed "Operation Jules Rimet" after the former French FIFA president, was launched without FIFA's knowledge, the police chief said.

Following the arrests "we are now calling for FIFA's assistance to help us identify this FIFA person, a foreigner staying in the Copacabana Palace hotel," Barucke said. The hotel is one used by FIFA's hierarchy at the World Cup.

Initially, police thought that Mohamadou Lamine Fofana, a Franco-Algerian based in Dubai, was the central figure, Barucke said.

"But after his arrest, we realized there was someone above him from FIFA with an intermediary at Match Hospitality," he added.

"We want to identify the last link in the chain, from the ticket touts at the stadiums, right through to those who are above Lamine Fofona and who passed the tickets on to him," said Barucke.

The suspects face charges of blackmarket dealing and money-laundering.