May 17 – Former FIFA Executive Committee member Worawi Makudi has scored a token success in the fight to clear his name.
The one-time strongman of Thai football, one of those who voted in the controversial ballot for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, was originally banned in October 2016 for five years for election forgery in his homeland and fined CHF10,000 ($9,995).
After being handed a suspended 16-month jail term, his conviction was quashed in April last year and Makudi sought to have his global football ban overturned.
That hasn’t happened but FIFA’s appeals committee has now announced it has shortened the suspension to three and half years whilst upholding the original fine.
It remains to be seen whether Makudi will now go the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Makudi, a longtime ally of disgraced former Asian football chief and one-time FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam, was a FIFA executive committtee member for 18 years until being voted off by Asian federations in April 2015.
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