By Tom Degun in Guadalajara
October 27 – A conference is currently underway here to decide on who will replace CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer when the American steps down from his post on December 31 this year.
The 66-year-old was at the centre of the storm which engulfed FIFA days before their Presidential election in May when he revealed that candidate Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam had colluded with CONCACAF President Jack Warner to arrange a meeting at which bribes had been offered to vote for the Qatari.
Blazer had alleged that $40,000 (£26,000/€30,000) was offered to each of the CONCACAF members and, as a result, both Bin Hammam and Warner were suspended from their duties pending an ethics inquiry.
Bin Hammam then withdrew from the election and has since been found guilty and suspended from football for life, although he continues to protest his innocence.
Warner then resigned as CONCACAF President and FIFA’s longest serving vice-president before his temporary successor, Bahamas’ Lisle Austin (pictured centre with Sepp Blatter and Jack Warner), unsuccessfully tried to fire Blazer.
Austin was then suspended and replaced by Alfredo Hawit, from Honduras, who is currently the acting President of CONCACAF.
The major scandal is considered one of the key reasons why Blazer will step down from the post, although he will continue as a FIFA Executive Committee member.
The FIFA conference, which will also see new CONCACAF technical directors named, is being held to coincide with the Pan American Games and comes at a testing time for the organisation, with ten more Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials currently being investigated for their roles in the cash-for-votes scandal by the FIFA ethics committee.
The investigation comes almost two weeks after 15 other Caribbean members were handed short-term bans, fines or reprimands.
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