FIFA has banned its former interim president Issa Hayatou on Tuesday for alleged wrongdoing in a commercial deal for African soccer.
The former Confederation of African Football (CAF) president for 29 years, was banned for one year for a breach of “duty of loyalty” rules, FIFA said in announcing the ruling of its ethics committee.
A fine of 30,000 Swiss francs ($33,000) was also slammed on him, though how FIFA can enforce payment is a different ball game altogether.
The FIFA investigation concluded Hayatou signed CAF “into an anti-competitive agreement with Lagardère Sport,” a media rights agency based in France.
Hayatou was a long-time FIFA vice president and its stand-in president for several months between Sepp Blatter’s suspension from office in October 2015 and the election of Gianni Infantino four months later.
The 74-year-old Cameroonian lost the CAF presidency in 2017 in an election against Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar, whose campaign had been supported by Infantino.
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Whether the FIFA ban will affect Hayatou’s honorary membership of the International Olympic Committee is left to be seen.
This article was most recently revised and updated 3 years ago
