FIFA fines 3 Indonesian football clubs for Twitter leaks

JAKARTA, Indonesia – FIFA said it has fined three Indonesian clubs for publishing secret transfer information on Twitter, the first time football’s world governing body has handed out sanctions for such social media offenses.

Persebaya Surabaya and Persires Bali Devata were each fined 25,000 Swiss francs ($25,800) for publishing confidential data on club-linked Twitter accounts, said FIFA in a statement.

PSIS Semarang was ordered to pay 15,000 Swiss francs for republishing the other teams’ tweets and publishing a confidential letter sent to them by FIFA, the governing body said.

The clubs were sanctioned “for breaching their obligation to keep data contained within the FIFA Transfer Matching System strictly confidential,” said a FIFA statement released Tuesday, December 9.

FIFA added it was the first time its disciplinary committee had “sanctioned clubs for such confidentiality breaches through the use of social media”.

The Transfer Matching System is a form of online monitoring that became mandatory for all FIFA member associations in 2010.

It is aimed at cleaning up and improving cross-border transfers and requires both clubs involved in a deal to input a string of data before FIFA gives its approval. – Rappler.com