By Andrew Warshaw
October 14 – Suspended former powerbroker Worawi Makudi looks set to defy FIFA’s ethics committee by contesting Thailand’s forthcoming FA presidential election in what would be a flagrant violation of the rules.
After years of escaping censure the Thai football boss was finally sanctioned for 90 days on Monday for unspecified breaches of FIFA’s ethics code but has vowed to clear his name.
Makudi spent 18 years as an Asian delegate to the FIFA executive committee until losing his place earlier this year. The statement from the ethics committee did not give specific details of the ban which may have been linked either to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process or with a criminal court conviction back home when he was sentenced in July to a suspended 16-month jail term after being found to have falsified documents during the 2013 ballot that saw him re-elected to lead Thai football.
Makudi faces a new election this coming weekend and says he intends to stand ahead of any appeal against his suspension “from all football activities at national and international level for 90 days.”
“I am confused by this, I just heard the news,” he was quoted as saying. “I am not guilty of anything. Under Thai law I still have the right to appeal (the July court decision). I did not falsify anything, what I did was absolutely legal.”
Makudi has been FAT president since 2007 and would be favourite to win another term. He is being challenged by former national team manager Vanasthana (formerly Thavatchai) Sajakul and Pisan Jundilok, a regional police chief. “I will stand, I have done nothing wrong,” he was quoted as saying by local media.
The Thai FA said Makudi’s suspension was based on a “vague allegation” and added: “FAT president Worawi Makudi still has the rights to clarify before the ethics committee in person or send written clarifications to the panel. According to the hearing procedures, there is still an appeal process and the last step is the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).”
The FA vowed to go ahead with the election scheduled for Saturday and while it did not confirm that Makudi would take part, it argued, somewhat bizarrely, that the ballot had nothing to do with FIFA and was an internal affair.
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