By Andrew Warshaw
November 11 – Nicolás Leoz, the 84-year-old President of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), is recovering in hospital in São Paulo following heart surgery.
Leoz (pictured above) underwent what was his fourth heart operation, which CONMEBOL said in a statement was not life threatening.
On its website, CONMEBOL termed the operation “very successful” and said Leoz would soon be “carrying out normal duties at CONMEBOL’s headquarters” in Asunción, Paraguay.
Leoz, from Paraguay, has headed South American football since 1986 and is a key ally of Julio Grondona (pictured below, right with Leoz), FIFA’s senior vice-president and the head of the Argentine Football Association (AFA).
Last year, amid allegations that swirled around the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bidding process, it was claimed Leoz sought a knighthood and for the English FA Cup to be named after him in return for supporting England’s bid to host the earlier tournament.
He flatly denied the allegations and no proceedings were opened against him by FIFA.
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