The case of the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) probe into widespread corruption at FIFA is undoubtedly an example of the latter.

After a period of relative dormancy, where FIFA Ethics Committee decisions to ban officials who have already pleaded guilty to criminal charges represented the only real developments of note, the American investigation sprung into life once more with potentially far-reaching consequences on Thursday (April 27).

Prior to that day, Richard Lai was nothing more than a member of the FIFA Audit and Compliance Committee, the head of the Guam Football Association and a former member of the top brass at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Guam is one of the tiniest of fish in the gargantuan pond that is world football. The role of the country Lai represents could be considered, with all due respect, as small in terms of the grand scheme of things.

Lai’s role in the ongoing corruption scandal engulfing the organisation is anything but.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the 55-year-old pleaded guilty to accepting nearly $1 million (£773,000/€915,000) in bribes in front of US District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn. He accepted two charges of wire fraud conspiracy – charges which are likely to warrant considerable time behind bars.

Lai had not been involved in the dramatic dawn arrests in Zurich in 2015 and did not seem to be on the radar, at least publicly. Behind the scenes, however, the DoJ had clearly conducted plenty of digging and foraging to get the information they wanted.

It worked. Lai’s guilty plea included admitting he was paid $100,000 (£77,000/€91,000) by an AFC official who was then running for the FIFA Presidency against disgraced Sepp Blatter in 2011.

Prosecutors also revealed he had received a further $850,000 (£657,000/€777,000) between 2009 and 2014 from various officials in the Asian region to help them further their influence within the AFC and FIFA.

A document published last night then shed more light on the charges. It detailed an official named as “co-conspirator” number two, who at “various times” was a “high-ranking official of FIFA, the Kuwait Football Association (KFA) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)".

It is here where the attention has been focused in the past 24 hours or so as the world comes to terms with what ramifications this might have.

The document seemingly identified key sporting and Olympic powerbroker Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, but the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) head came out fighting today with a statement which said he was “surprised” at the allegations he was in some way involved. It “strong denied” any wrongdoing and vowed he would “vigorously defend his integrity and reputation".

The development has sent shockwaves through the sporting world and came as FIFA President Gianni Infantino was forced to fend off accusations of his own.

The election of the Swiss-Italian in February 2016 was meant to herald a new dawn at the corruption-plagued organisation, but since he replaced the disgraced Sepp Blatter, he has shown tendencies more associated with the old regime.

Having been cleared by the Ethics Committee of any wrongdoing in August amid suggestions he made a series of questionable expense claims, including the use of private jets and purchases of objects ranging from mattresses to a tuxedo, he is now supposedly in the firing line once again, this time over allegedly unduly influencing last month’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) Presidential election.

German magazine Der Spiegel has reported Infantino’s trip to attend a party thrown by Phillip Chiyangwa, the head of the Zimbabwe Football Association and the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations, is at the focal point of the issue. Under FIFA’s ethics rules – perhaps the most flouted regulations in world sport – such event must be “politically neutral”.

It is hard to see how this particular spectacle could have been as Chiyangwa led Ahmad Ahmad’s successful campaign to oust incumbent Issa Hayatou. It is well known that Infantino and Hayatou were at loggerheads behind closed doors prior to the election and the FIFA President would probably have greeted Ahmad’s surprise triumph with more than a touch of glee.

Infantino has denied the claims levelled at him and the Ethics Committee have not yet opened any form of investigation. But it is an issue he could do without as he prepares to preside over a crucial Congress in the Bahrain capital of Manama in less than two weeks’ time.

His ethical conduct also came under question at last year’s gathering of the FIFA membership in Mexico City when he was accused of deleting the recordings of a Council meeting, during which he allegedly orchestrated a plot to remove Domenico Scala as head of the Audit and Compliance Committee.

Scala resigned the day after the conclusion of the Congress in protest at a measure passed at the meeting, which allowed Infantino to controversially hire and fire those at the helm of FIFA’s various “Independent” Committees without putting it to a vote.

In Manama, the US will again be at the centre of discussions, for more than one reason. With the DoJ probe looming like an ominous, dark cloud over the organisation, the Congress is also set to vote on a joint proposal from America, Canada and Mexico over expediting the 2026 World Cup bidding process.

The country which is driving a stake through the very heart of FIFA is also likely to host its flagship event in nine years’ time.

The World Cup bidding process itself has been thrust back into the headlines this week following the news that prosecutors in France have followed their American and Swiss counterparts in investigating the path which led to Russia and Qatar being awarded the 2018 and 2022 tournaments respectively.

While the results of the respective probes are not exactly imminent, the fact that three countries are looking into the decisions does not bode well for those accused of involvement. Surely at least one of them will find something? Much like the DoJ investigation, watch this space.

"The new FIFA has been fully supportive of the US authorities’ investigations, and will continue to be," said Infantino in a statement.

"I am happy to confirm once again, that FIFA will provide whatever assistance is needed by the US and any other authorities around the world."

If this week is anything to go by, FIFA will need to provide plenty more assistance before the DoJ call an end to an investigation which has rocked the global governing body to its core.

For good measure, former Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football President and ex-FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb will be sentenced in the US on the very day of the Congress. 

FIFA may claim they are on the right track to rebuilding their shattered image but the DoJ continue to show their message at this point in time remains misleading. Their troubles are far from over as long as American investigators are involved.