By Andrew Warshaw
December 21 – Amos Adamu, one of Africa’s most notorious footballing figures, is facing a second ban from the game after FIFA’s Ethics Committee opened fresh proceedings against the Nigerian.
Adamu has already served a three-year ban, imposed in 2010, for accepting bribes in relation to the award of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar. He was barred from voting following a sting by The Sunday Times newspaper.
He now faces another two-year suspension and a CHF 20,000 fine for further ethics violations, a FIFA statement said.
The latest investigation into alleged breaches by Adamu, a former FIFA executive committee member and West African Football Union president who lost two appeals against his original ban, was opened in March last year. A final report was passed to FIFA’s adjudicatory chamber earlier this month recommending a sanction, after which ethics committee chairman Hans-Joachim Eckert decided to open proceedings.
It is not clear what Adamu has specifically done wrong this time but FIFA said he violated general rules of conduct, loyalty and conflict of interest. FIFA said it would make no further comment on the case “for reasons linked to privacy rights and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty”. A final verdict may several take months.
A high-ranking government official for Nigerian sport for 20 years, Adamu was once considered to be a leading candidate to succeed long-serving Issa Hayatou as head of the Confederation of African Football.
But his career took a decisive downward turn, so much so that when the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected his second appeal against his original ban, a three-member panel at sport’s highest legal authority said the punishment was “even relatively mild given the seriousness of the offence”.
When the ban ended Adamu said he was “delighted that … I am free to contribute to the development of football and sports generally in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large.”
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