FIFA Council member loses appeal of one-year ban
ZURICH:
FIFA Council member Wolfgang Niersbach has lost his appeal against a one year ban from soccer in relation to Germany’s 2006 World Cup bid. The FIFA ethics committee found Niersbach guilty of failing to report findings about possible unethical conduct and conflicts of interest during the bidding process.
FIFA said yesterday that its appeal committee agreed with the findings of the ethics committee that “a oneyear ban from taking part in any football-related activity at national and international level was adequate in this case.” Niersbach was a vice president of the 2006 World Cup organizing committee, in charge of media and marketing.
Niersbach retained his elected positions on the top decision-making bodies at both FIFA and UEFA despite resigning as German federation president in November 2015.
He is the first member of the FIFA Council, which replaced the discredited executive committee in May, to be sanctioned by the ethics division. Niersbach is also a suspect in a Swiss criminal case investigating fraud, money laundering, criminal mismanagement and misappropriation relating to a payment of 6.7 million euros ($7.3 million) to FIFA in 2005. — AP