By Gabriel Atumeyi
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has reduced the life ban slammed on former Nigerian international, Samson Siasia to five years following his appeal against the decision rendered by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on 11 April 2019.
Recall that the former Super Eagles coach was found guilty of infringement of article 1 (bribery) of the 2009 FIFA Code of Ethics and sanctioned with a life ban from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international levels (administrative, sports or any other) and a fine of CHF 50,000 (N22.3m) was imposed on him.
In 2010, a match-fixer tried to involve Siasia as a coach of a club under his strict instructions. With the promise of employment benefits, Siasia would have had to always field several players under the control of the match fixer, an allegation he had in the past refuted.
The negotiations between the match fixer and Mr Siasia in relation to the conditions of employment were conducted by email over a period of two months. Eventually, the club did not accept or could not afford Siasia’s requests and the negotiations ended.
In his reaction, Siasia said he could not give more details just yet.
“I can’t talk now. I need to talk to my lawyers first before I will know what to do or say. I am waiting to hear from my lawyers,” he said in a message.