By Andrew Warshaw
March 1 – Amos Adamu (pictured), one of Africa’s most notorious footballing figures, has been banned for a second time by FIFA’s Ethics Committee for unethical conduct, almost certainly bringing the curtain down on a career that has long been shrouded in controversy.
Adamu, a former FIFA executive committee member and West African Football Union president who lost two appeals against his original 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, has now been thrown out for another two years.
A high-ranking government official for Nigerian sport for 20 years, Adamu, 62, was once considered to be a leading candidate to succeed long-serving Issa Hayatou as head of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
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 – who was originally suspended shortly before the controversial December, 2010 vote which handed hosting rights to Russia and Qatar respectively – 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.”
Not any longer.
FIFA’s ethics committee said that its latest ban, which followed a fresh investigation that opened two years ago, was the result of Adamu’s “involvement in the organisation of an event in 2010” which violated the rules of conduct and constituted a conflict of interest.
No details were given but a FIFA report, published in 2014, cited an article in Britain’s Sunday Times which alleged that Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid team paid $1 million to Adamu’s son to “sponsor” an ‘African Legends Dinner’ in 2010 in Johannesburg.
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