By Andrew Warshaw
October 2 – Ricardo Teixeira, controversial president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), has been released from hospital following two days of observation after complaining of abdominal pain.
Teixeira, who also is the President of Brazil’s Organising Committee for the 2014 World Cup, was diagnosed with diverticulitis, an inflammation of the inner lining of the intestine.
His condition did not require surgery.
Teixeira is one of the most powerful men in Brazilian football and has been head of the CBF since 1989.
He has been repeatedly attacked by domestic media over alleged irregularities during his time in office but has never been convicted of any wrongdoing.
Teixeira, who has had a long-running feud with Pele, the country’s greatest footballing icon, is under suspicion of allegedly taking kickbacks from FIFA’s former marketing partner ISL in the 1990s.
Last year, just before the vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, the BBC accused Teixeira of being one of three high-profile FIFA Executive Committee members involved in corruption.
FIFA later dismissed the allegations while Teixeira denied any wrongdoing.
But in May, he was accused of unethical conduct by former English Football Association chairman Lord Triesman over the bidding process for the 2018 World Cup.
And two months ago, during the 2014 preliminary draw in Rio de Janeiro, Teixeira clashed with English reporters, calling them “corrupt” after being asked to comment on allegations that he was the one who had to answer claims of corruption.
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