Fifa hand over 48 luxury watches to charity following probe into 'gift bag' donations

It was believed that the Brazilian Football Confederation handed out 65 Parmigiani timepieces but it later emerged that some officials 'had, in fact, not received a watch'

A designer Parmigiani watch (Getty Images)

Fifa’s ethics committee has donated 48 luxury watches, valued at almost $1.27m, recovered from football officials to a non-profit organisation.

The Parmigiani watches were presented to officials, including members of the Fifa's Executive Committee, by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) as part of a 'gift bag' on the eve of last year’s World Cup.

According to a statement released on the governing body’s official website, the CBF had initially intended to hand out 65 watches.

However, following the ethics committee’s thorough investigation into the matter, it emerged that several officials "had, in fact, not received a watch."

Despite ruling that they were unauthorised gifts, the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee decided against opening disciplinary proceedings, provided that the officials involved returned the gifts.

"After contacting all potential recipients, 48 watches were returned to the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee," the statement reads.

The statement did not mention whether any remaining watches were considered missing or unaccounted for.

Fifa earlier said that the Brazilians obtained the watches from Parmigiani for $8,750 each. However, an appraisal later found that the watches had a market value of 25,000 Swiss francs ($26,600).

The gifts have now been awarded to ‘streetfootballworld’, a non-profit organisation that will invest revenue gained from sale of the watches into football initiatives in Brazil.

"The investigatory chamber of the ethics committee considers the matter to be closed," FIFA said.

Additional reporting by Associated Press