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CAS to hear Teixeira appeal against FIFA life ban

Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is set to hear Ricardo Terra Teixeira’s appeal against his life ban from FIFA tomorrow.

Teixeira, a former FIFA Executive Committee member, was handed a life ban for bribery in November.

FIFA said the Adjudicatory Chamber of its Ethics Committee had found the former Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) President guilty of ethics breaches.

Teixeira was sanctioned for his involvement in bribery schemes relating to awarding contracts to companies for the media and marketing rights to CBF, CONMEBOL, and the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) competitions.

FIFA, which had also fined the controversial Brazilian CHF1 million (£840,000/$1 million/€930,000), said the schemes were carried out between 2006 and 2012.

Teixeira is also alleged to have “been offered and received bribe payments” in exchange for voting for Qatar to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

He appealed FIFA’s decision at CAS and will find out if his ban is maintained tomorrow.

The hearing may be held by video conference due to travel restrictions in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 73-year-old became CBF President in 1989, maintaining his place at the helm of the organisation until 2012.

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He has long been suspected of corruption in his various roles within the sport.

In 2013, FIFA’s Ethics Committee said in a statement on International Sport and Leisure that it was “certain”, “not inconsiderable amounts were channelled” to the 72-year-old and ex-FIFA President João Havelange.

These payments were to be “qualified as ‘commissions’, known today as ‘bribes”, the statement added.

The acceptance of bribe money was “not punishable under Swiss criminal law at that time”, however.

Teixeira, who served on the CONMEBOL Executive Committee, was among the 16 defendants indicted by US judicial authorities for racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies.

The Brazilian official, a former son-in-law of Havelange who held his position on the FIFA Executive Committee for nearly two decades, has evaded extradition to the US to face the charges.

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