FIFA Exec Banned from Football

(ATR)FIFA has banned its top German executive for one year over the 2006 World Cup bribery scandal.

The adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee dished out a suspension from all football-related activities for the former vice-president of the Germany World Cup organizing committee. Niersbach was a FIFA Council member and former head of the German FA.

Niersbach "failed to report findings about possible misconduct concerning the awarding of the 2006 World Cup", including potential breaches of the FIFA code of ethics (FCE).

"The present case did not look into possible breaches of the FCE in relation to possible acts of bribery and/or corruption with regards to the award of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but only evaluated Mr Niersbach’s awareness of the said incidents and his failure to report them to the Ethics Committee in a timely manner," FIFA said in a statement.

FIFA’s ethics panel said Niersbach had breached rules relating to duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting and conflicts of interest.

In May, FIFA investigators recommended a two-year ban for Niersbach, who was engulfed in the World Cup vote-buying scandal. He quit as federation president in November over the Germany 2006 €6.7 million payment to FIFA alleged to have been used to bribe voters. He denied any wrongdoing.

Niersbach will lose his seat on the FIFA Council and UEFA Executive Committee pending the outcome of a possible appeal to sanctions.

Written by Mark Bisson

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