FIFA owe $100 million for the use of vanishing spray
Pablo Silva, the patent holder of the vanishing spray that FIFA uses in its competitions, claims that he is owed $100 million by football's governing body for the use of his product.
"Experts told us that we were owed around $100 million, but that was almost a year ago. We need to add on the time since then including the World Cup, as a judicial order states" Silva told 'AS'.
The guilty party, according to Silva, is Gianni Infantino. "We were aware that FIFA were having problems with 'FIFA Gate' and that ours wasn't their priority, it also shouldn't be inconsequential to them. You can't say that you're a supporter of 'fair play' when you owe someone money who has helped you to make the game better." he added.
"After the World Cup in Brazil FIFA promised to pay us. We waited patiently for three years but we were tired of asking for meetings to resolve the problem, we went to a judge little over a year ago to sort it out." he said
Despite the judicial actions, the spray has continued to be used in top-level competitions. "There is a document that FIFA presented to the judge which asked to be able to use knock-off spray canisters at the World Cup. They were effectively accepting that they had stolen the idea from us" he stated.
Silva warned that "until the end of the legal procedings FIFA needs to ban the use of the spray. If they don't do that then they will have to pay even more."