Arrested FIFA officials banned from soccer for 90 days
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via Reuters
Juan Angel Napout, president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) speaks before the draw of the 2015 Copa Sudamericana tournament at the CONMEBOL headquarters in Luque, on the outskirts of Asuncion July 16, 2015. REUTERS/Jorge Adorno/Files
ZURICH (Reuters) – FIFA executive committee members Juan Angel Napout and Alfredo Hawit have been suspended from soccer for 90 days after their arrest in Switzerland, the ethics committee of the soccer’s governing body said on Friday.
The pair, who are facing extradition to the United States, were among 16 soccer officials charged by U.S. prosecutors on Thursday with taking part in multimillion-dollar bribery schemes for marketing and broadcast rights.
FIFA’s ethics panel routinely bans officials who are under criminal investigation and the suspensions amount to a formality after their arrest, the latest blow to a global soccer body in turmoil since a first round of indictments in May.
Napout is president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and Hawit is head of the CONCACAF confederation that runs the sport in North, Central America and the Caribbean.
Both of them were in Zurich for a FIFA executive committee meeting to discuss reforms aimed at cleaning up the sport and wiping out corruption.
(Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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