By Andrew Warshaw
January 11 – From day one he has protested his innocence but the net appears to be closing in on Thailand’s controversial former FIFA executive committee member Worawi Makudi.
FIFA ethics judges have announced the extension of the Thai football chief’s temporary suspension for 45 more days over allegations of ethics breaches after the initial 90-day suspension imposed on Worawi on October 7 expired.
Worawi was a FIFA exco member for 18 years and was one of those who voted in the controversial ballot to choose the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, a process under official investigation by the Swiss judicial authorities.
He has faced multiple allegations of wrongdoing and was found guilty in July by a Thai court of forgery in the 2013 re-election as head of his own football association. He was given a suspended 16-month jail term but he has still split public opinion.
With his extended suspension, however, Makudi will not be eligible to contest the next Thai FA presidential election. A FIFA-appointed normalisation committee has set February 11 as the election date and tomorrow as the last day for candidacy registration.
Makudi, a longtime ally of banned former FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam, was expected to name a candidate in his place with his future as one of Asian football’s most controversial figures now in increasingly serious doubt.
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