Blazer Receives Lifetime Ban From Football

(ATR) Former FIFA Executive Committee member and CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer has been banned from all football-related activities for life.

The decision to ban the former high-ranking football official was taken by the FIFA Independent Ethics Committee chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert, as announced by FIFA in a statement on Thursday morning (July 9).

Blazer’s lifetime ban of any national or international football-related activities was determined in response to the final report of the CONCACAF Integrity Committee and the latest facts presented by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

The investigation determined that Blazer committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly during his time as an official in different high-ranking and influential positions at FIFA and CONCACAF.

It was concluded that during his time as a football official, Blazer was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, payment and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, bribes and kickbacks as well as other money making schemes.

The 70-year-old former soccer administrator from New York, who is currently in poor health, was found guilty of seven separate articles of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

Blazer admitted that he and others members on the executive committee of football's world governing body agreed to accept bribes in connection with the choice of South Africa as 2010 World Cup hosts.

He cooperated with the F.B.I., worked undercover as part of a plea bargain after pleading guilty to ten charges of bribery, money laundering and tax evasion, helping to obtain incriminating evidence against fellow FIFA officials.

Subsequently, the U.S. Justice Department indicted 14 individuals on charges ofracketeering, fraud and money laundering at the end of May.

Blazer was the second highest ranking official in FIFA's North and Central American and Caribbean region (CONCACAF) from 1990 to 2011 and also served on FIFA's executive committee between 1997 and 2013.

The ban is effective from July 9, 2015, the date on which the present decision was notified.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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