FIFA impose Blazer ban

FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer has been provisionally banned for financial mismanagement as secretary-general of CONCACAF.

Blazer stepped down as CONCACAF secretary-general in December 2011 and was set to be replaced on FIFA’s ExCo by fellow American Sunil Galati at the end of May.

The decision by FIFA’s Ethics Committee to provisionally ban Blazer from ‘any kind of football-related activity’ for 90 days means the 68-year-old New Yorker’s involvement in football administration looks to be over.

FIFA released a statement on Monday, explaining that ethics committee chairman Hans-Joachim Eckert had decided to suspend Blazer because of alleged fraud during his time in charge of CONCACAF, the governing body of football in North and Central America, and the Caribbean.

“Various breaches of the FIFA Code of Ethics appear to have been committed by Chuck Blazer and … a decision on the main issue could not be taken early enough,” the statement from FIFA read.

Blazer is accused of, among other things, trying to buy property in the Bahamas with around US$4 million of football funds.

FIFA’s decision against Blazer continues a bad month for high-ranking football administrators.

On April 30, Sri Lanka’s Vernon Manilal Fernando was handed an eight-year suspension by FIFA for unethical behaviour, while football’s world governing body conceded former president Joao Havelange had accepted bribes in the 1990s.

Havelange subsequently gave up his position as honorary president of FIFA.

A week earlier, former CONCACAF president Jack Warner resigned from the Trinidad and Tobago government after being accused of fraud in relation to his football work.

Blazer played a key role in Warner’s fall, having accused the Trinidadian of corruption in the lead up to the election for the FIFA presidency in 2011.