fifaAs juggernaut footballing body FIFA prepares to defend itself against a tsunami of corruption indictments by the U.S. Department of Justice, federation officials have retained several prominent global law firms.

The charges total nearly 50 and range from racketeering and wire fraud to money laundering, with additional allegations that key executives took bribes. FIFA has hired Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan’s white collar and corporate investigations chair William Burck, according to The American Lawyer. Further, Clifford Chance New York litigation partner Edward O’Callaghan is advising one of the executives charged, FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb.

According to a report in Legal Week, “the DOJ’s indictment comes alongside a guilty plea from Charles ‘Chuck’ Blazer, former general secretary of the Confederation of North American, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, who became an informant to the Federal Bureau of Investigations in its enquiries.”

Blazer has instructed Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman in New York, which is fielding a team headed up by white collar criminal defence chief Eric Corngold.

It is uncertain whether resigned FIFA president Sepp Blatter has taken legal advice, but according to Legal Week, “one lawyer close to the investigation [indicated] that Blatter has historically preferred to deal with his advisers on an ad-hoc basis, only handing out a formal instruction when absolutely necessary.”