Showing posts with label South America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South America. Show all posts

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

Ex Guatemala Football Chief Arrested


Police in Guatemala have arrested a former head of the country's football federation as part of a major US corruption investigation into the sport's world governing body, Fifa.

The suspect, Brayan Jimenez, had been on the run since last month, when the US issued an arrest warrant for 16 Latin American football officials.

He was detained at a block of flats in the capital, Guatemala City.

His lawyer said he would not fight the extradition request.

"He will prove his innocence in the courts of the United States," said his lawyer, Francisco Garcia Gudiel.

'Six-digit bribe'

Mr Jimenez was head of the Guatemalan Football Federation (Fedefut) from 2010 until last year.

US prosecutors say he and former Fedefut Secretary-General Hector Trujillo took a "six-digit bribe" to sell the television rights to qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup.

Mr Trujillo was arrested in the US last month.

A younger-looking Brayan Jimenez served in the Fifa Fair Play Committee

The US has now charged some 40 individuals and entities as part of the Fifa investigation.

The Department of Justice said it had asked for the arrests because the alleged offences were "agreed and prepared in the United States" and payments were also processed via American banks.

The first charges, against 14 Fifa executives and associates, were brought in May. Some people have already been convicted.

Many others were indicted in the following months.

On 3 December, US prosecutors announced new charges focusing on corruption at the South American Football Confederation and Concacaf, which governs the game in North and Central America as well as the Caribbean.

The football executives were accused of receiving bribes worth millions of dollars connected to Copa America tournaments.


Tuesday, 22 December 2015

River Plate Make Messi Apology

Getty Images
River Plate have apologised for the behaviour of their supporters towards Lionel Messi at an airport in Tokyo amid reports he was spat at following Barcelona’s 3-0 victory in the Club World Cup final.

A number of fans found themselves close to a group of Barça players and began hurling insults and abuse at, among other Messi and Javier Mascherano, promoting the intervention of the manager, Luis Enrique, to stop the incident escalating.

The River Plate statement read: “In relation to the attacks on Lionel Messi at Narita airport, Club Atlético River Plate condemns all forms of violence and wishes to apologise to the player and Barcelona. River Plate congratulate Barcelona on winning the 2015 Club World Cup, held in Japan.”

Barcelona had claimed a comfortable 3-0 win in Tokyo with Messi scoring the opening goal before two more from Luis Suárez. Messi has often been criticised for failing to replicate his Barcelona form for the national team but the River Plate president, Rodolfo D’Onofrio, was similarly critical of the behaviour of his club’s fans.

“There’s always one idiot, to use a more polite way of describing these people. I’ve only just read that Messi was given problems by a fan at the airport who had drunk more than he should have … and did something stupid against Messi. Messi is the best player in Argentine football, he’s a gentleman,” D’Onofrio told Fox Sports Show.