March 22 – Nicolas Leoz is set to remain as head of CONMEBOL, the South American Football Confederation, after the continent’s ten members backed him unanimously.
They are due to hold their elections on May 1 and the 82-year-old Paraguayan is set to extend his position in the role he has held since 1986 by another four years after no other candidate came forward to challenge him.
“The deadline for candidates passed on March 16,” Leoz told Reuters.
“The Congress will be in May and the 10 member nations have backed me to continue for another four years.”
Leoz’s administration has seen a revival of both the Copa America and the Libertadores Cup, the South American equivalent of the Champions League.
During the 1980s, the Copa America was held on an irregular basis while the Libertadores attracted little interest in Brazil, the region’s most important soccer nation.
Under Leoz, the Copa America has been played regularly while Brazilian clubs now make the Libertadores a top priority thanks to increased sponsorship and higher prize money.
A new World Cup qualifying format, in which the 10 teams play each other twice over a two-year period, has greatly helped the countries such as Paraguay and Venezuela, who now play competitively on a regular basis whereas previously they struggled for matches.
CONMEBOL has also set up a permanent headquarters in Paraguay.
Previously, it was based on a temporary basis in the President’s home country.
But last year Leoz was accused by the BBC programme Panorama to have taken bribes in the 1990s regarding the awarding of World Cup television rights.
Panorama claimed to have obtained a confidential document from ISL which showed that Leoz was paid $730,000 (£446,000) by the company.
He has never responded to the allegations.