Guinea-Bissau
FIFA ban for former president sparks chaos at federation
Nascimento was handed a decade-long ban from football for his alleged role in a mob justice incident, when a mobile phone thief was trapped in a tyre and threatened with petrol
Manuel Nascimento is a vocal critic of the Confederation of African Football and FIFA’s attempts to exert greater control over CAF, but the world body’s attempts to sideline the controversial president of Guinea-Bissau’s Football Federation (FFGB) look to have backfired.
Once an African football backwater, Guinea-Bissau’s qualification for their debut Africa Cup of Nations in 2017 and a second successive appearance last year gave Nascimento a platform to voice concerns over alleged corruption in CAF.
Known locally as Manuelino, Nascimento also supported Jerome Champagne as a rival candidate to Gianni Infantino in the 2016 FIFA presidential elections, but frequently ran into problems at home.
These ranged from a rebellion by clubs over financial irregularities that caused the 2018 Campeonato Nacional to be postponed, to allegedly firing a pistol at academy owner, Adile ‘Kaby’ Sebastiao.
Complaints by the clubs drew no response from FIFA, who finally intervened this summer. Nascimento was handed a decade-long ban from football for his alleged role in a mob justice incident, when a mobile phone thief was trapped in a tyre and threatened with petrol.
A video clip of the incident spread via social media, prompting the FIFA ban, which was issued on the eve of the FFGB elections with Nascimento running for a third term of office.
Nascimento claims he was helping free the thief and the ban has boosted his standing in the former Portuguese colony. “Now 70 per cent of the people here support him,” says Causo Seidi, president of second-tier side Mansaba.
At a hastily convened meeting on August 8 at the Hotel Ledger in Bissau, a vote was held for a new president, but only 25 of the FFGB’s 38 members attended due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Eight of the FFGB members that were allegedly at the election then subsequently contested the poll’s validity. “No one was accredited to take part in the said congress,” said Pelundo vice-president Erriosto Mendes.
The Guinea-Bissau Sports Medicine Association, the referee’s association AGAF and clubs including Mavegro, Quinara, Sport Bissau e Benfica and Porto de Bissau also claimed no one from their organisation who was there was eligible to vote.
The country’s electoral commission annulled the result and local election rules say three months’ notice must be given before a new vote is held, which means waiting until November although some clubs want an earlier poll.
Nascimento could run again as in August he travelled to Europe to lodge an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport against his ban and 100,000 Swiss francs fine. “I really don’t know if am going to stand for it again,” said Nascimento. “Because our CAF presently is composed by [a] corrupt president who doesn’t care about football and its development.”
The favourite is Carlos Teixeira, known as Caito, a former international who played professionally in Portugal and Switzerland. “If I’m not running for it, I think to support [Caito] strongly,” says Nascimento.
Last season was abandoned due to COVID and the 2020-21 Campeonato Nacional is due to start in October, but even if football does resume there may be little change if Caito wins with Nascimento active in the background.