March 4 – FIFA’s Ethics Committee has issued a lifetime ban on Patrick Assoumou Eyi for sexual abuse. The former coach of the Gabon U-17 men’s national team has also been handed a CHF1 million fine.
In issuing the judgement, FIFA said Eyi (pictured) was found “guilty of abusing his position and committing repeated acts of sexual abuse against multiple players…
“The investigation into Mr Eyi concerns complaints from at least four football players who accused him of sexual abuse between 2006 and 2021. Most of these incidents occurred while the players were minors.”
In May 2022 FIFA extended an investigation into alleged systematic sexual abuse of under-age players in Gabon by opening formal proceedings against four officials.
Eyi was alleged to be the main perpetrator. He was coach of the national under-17 team until 2017; league official Serge Mombo and coaches Triphel Mabicka and Orphee Mickala were the other three under investigation.
The probeopened after British newspaper The Guardian reported statements by alleged victims that they were lured to Eyi’s home which he called the ‘Garden of Eden’.
Eyi, who used to be technical director of the Gabonese FA, was suspended by the country’s FA, and FIFA extended that suspension worldwide and provisionally to the other three officials.
“These sanctions have been imposed in connection with ongoing criminal investigations,” FIFA said in a statement at the time.
FIFA ethics investigators had received a complaint from the global players union FIFPRO, which has said abuse of underage boys in Gabon was “deeply embedded” there and was “an open secret that was not addressed for years.”
The union also alleged people “with close ties” to the Gabonese FA made threats to players and witnesses during the investigation.
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