FIFA Bans Ex-Football Chief For Life

FIFA on Thursday slapped a lifetime ban on the disgraced former head of Ecuador’s football federation, Luis Chiriboga, after finding him guilty of taking bribes.

Chiriboga was one of the executives arrested in 2015 amid a massive US-led crackdown on corruption in world football.

FIFA’s independent ethics committee investigated him over “schemes in which he received bribes in exchange for his role in awarding contracts to companies for the media and marketing rights to various football tournaments,” it said in a statement.

After finding him guilty, FIFA’s ethics judges banned Chiriboga from all football-related activities for life and fined him 1 million Swiss francs ($1 million, 887,000 euros).

Prosecutors in Ecuador have already convicted Chiriboga of money laundering.

Ecuador has rejected requests by American prosecutors for Chiriboga to stand trial in the United States, because the country does not extradite its own citizens.

Chiriboga led Ecuador’s football federation for 18 years before his arrest.

(AFP)