FIFA bans Ex-CONMEBOL president for life for bribery

FIFA has banned former CONMEBOL president Eugenio Figueredo from all football activities for life after finding him guilty of bribery.

The 87-year-old Uruguayan headed his nation's football association for nine years from 1997, doubling up as a CONMEBOL vice-president for part of that spell, a post he held for two decades until 2013.

It was at that point he replaced Nicolas Leoz as president of the South American confederation, but he was arrested two years later.

Figueredo was accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes relating to "awarding contracts to companies for the media and marketing rights to CONMEBOL competitions" between 2004 and 2015, FIFA said.

United States and Uruguay requested his extradition from Switzerland in 2015, and it was his homeland that won the right to prosecute Figueredo as he faced more charges there than in the USA.

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He was released in December 2017 after over two-and-a-half years either in prison or under house arrest, but following Wednesday's announcement from FIFA, Figueredo will not be able to work in football again.

"The adjudicatory chamber of the independent ethics committee has found Mr Eugenio Figueredo, a former vice-president and president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and former member of several FIFA committees, guilty of bribery in violation of the FIFA code of ethics," a FIFA statement read.

"In its decision, the adjudicatory chamber found that Mr Figueredo had breached art. 27 (bribery) of the 2018 edition of the FIFA code of ethics and, as a result, sanctioned him with a ban for life on taking part in any football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level.

"In addition, a fine in the amount of CHF 1,000,000 (€914,266) has been imposed on Mr Figueredo."