Ricardo Teixeira to remain boss of Brazilian football

By Andrew Warshaw

March 1 – After weeks of rumour and counter-rumour about whether he was losing his power base, Ricardo Teixeira (pictured) has managed to hang on to his post as boss of Brazilian football.

Despite calls for his resignation as both head of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and of the 2014 World Cup Organising Committee amid a string of corruption allegations, a general assembly summoned by Teixeira on Wednesday reiterated their support for him.

“The participants declared once again, unanimously, their support to President Ricardo Teixeira,” the CBF said in a brief statement.

Teixeira, one of the figures heavily implicated in the ISL corruption affair, has been suffering from unspecified ill health in recent weeks and has been conspicuous by his absence at a number of meetings.

Health reasons alone could force him out of office, it would now appear, rather than any wrongdoing.

Although Teixeira has never been convicted, his 23-year stint as one of the game’s main powerbrokers has been marked by controversy.

The latest accusation came last week when Brazil’s largest newspaper, Folha de S. Paulo, reported that prosecutors allegedly found evidence linking Teixeira and a company that organised a friendly between Brazil and Portugal in 2008 in Brasilia.

The company is being investigated for irregularities.

Teixeira has also been probed by Brazil’s Congress and is still embroiled in claims that he took kickbacks from former FIFA marketing partner ISL in the 1990s.

He is also son-in-law of former FIFA President João Havelange, who resigned from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in December after half-a-century of service to avoid facing corruption charges himself.

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