October 11 – The former general secretary of the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF), Sayed Aghazada, has been banned for five years by FIFA in the latest sanction relating to the country’s sexual abuse scandal.
Four months after federation chief Keramuddin Karim was kicked out after FIFA’s ethics committee found him guilty of abusing his position and sexually abusing female players, Aghazada was also banned and will be removed from the Asian Football Confederation’s executive committee. He was also fined CHF10,000.
The widepread complaints of sexual abuse covered the period between 2013 and 2018, at a time when Aghazada was the AFF’s general secretary and working with Karim.
″(Aghazada) was aware of this abuse and had the duty to report and prevent it,” FIFA said in its judgement, adding that other Afghan officials are still being investigated.
Afghan women’s national team players have accused federation officials of sexual abuse and cover-ups for years. Afghan judicial authorities and FIFA launched investigations last year when players went public with their allegations.
Aghazada was only elected in April to a four-year term on the AFC executive committee.
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