Boston Herald

Horace Burrell, at 67 Jamaican soccer official

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Horace Burrell, a longtime Caribbean soccer official and former ally of several controvers­ial FIFA vice presidents, has died. He was 67.

The governing body of soccer in North America said the Jamaican, a senior vice president, died Tuesday. Media in Jamaica reported that Mr. Burrell was a patient at Johns Hopkins Cancer Treatment Center in Baltimore, Md.

Mr. Burrell oversaw Jamaica’s qualificat­ion for the 1998 World Cup during two stints as president of the soccer federation from 19942003 and since 2007.

“Captain Burrell’s commitment and vision for the sport contribute­d to create a strong legacy for the game within the region,” the Miami-based CONCACAF soccer body said.

Mr. Burrell gave the Caribbean region continuity at CONCACAF and FIFA through corruption scandals that have flared since 2011. He was a FIFA disciplina­ry committee member, but lost that duty in 2011 when he was banned for three months in a Caribbean bribery case during that year’s FIFA presidenti­al election.

Mr. Burrell, who had not cooperated fully with a FIFA-appointed investigat­ion, was not implicated in taking money in a scandal which removed CONCACAF president Jack Warner from soccer.

Warner was replaced as CONCACAF leader and FIFA vice president by Jeffrey Webb, once a business partner of Mr. Burrell’s in a Cayman Islands branch of the Captain’s Bakery and Grill restaurant chain. Webb and Warner were both indicted in May 2015 by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of a sprawling and ongoing investigat­ion of bribery and corruption in internatio­nal soccer linked to FIFA. Webb has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentence, while Warner is fighting extraditio­n to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago.

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