By Andrew Warshaw
February 16 – The reign of corruption-tainted Brazilian powerbroker Ricardo Teixeira looks set to end after months of growing pressure.
Media reports in the country say Teixeira – one of FIFA’s most senior executives – will step down after 23 years as President of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), though there was no indication whether he would give up his role in the organisation of the 2014 World Cup, despite recent ill-health and his all-powerful role coming under increasing scrutiny.
Last year Teixeira was cleared by a FIFA probe after former English Football Association chairman Lord Triesman accused him of demanding bribes to vote for England’s 2018 World Cup bid.
He is also understood to be one of those cited in hotly anticipated but as yet unpublished documentation detailing alleged kickbacks from ISL, FIFA’s collapsed former TV rights company.
At home, the increasingly unpopular Teixeira has been subject of a fraud squad investigation into allegations of money laundering and has had a long-running feud with national hero Pele.
According to Brazil’s O Globo newspaper, his successor as head of Brazilian football will be Jose Maria Marin, one of the vice-presidents of the CBF.
The news came as another newspaper, Folha de S.Paulo, reported that a company linked to Teixeira overcharged organisers of a friendly between Brazil and Portugal in 2008.
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