FIFA suspends bin Hammam and Jack Warner
FIFA suspended senior executive committee members Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner yesterday amid allegations they bribed voters in the presidential election campaign. Soccer’s governing body also cleared FIFA president Sepp Blatter of wrongdoing, paving the way for him to be re-elected unopposed to a fourth term Wednesday despite the gravest corruption crisis in FIFA history, Boston Globe writes.
Bin Hammam, a Qatari who leads Asia’s soccer confederation, and Warner, a FIFA vice president from Trinidad, will now face a full inquiry. If found guilty, they could be expelled from FIFA and banned from all soccer activity. The ethics commission said there was sufficient evidence to further investigate allegations that bin Hammam and Warner offered $40,000 bribes to delegates at a Caribbean soccer association meeting May 10-11 in Trinidad. The payments were allegedly made to secure votes for bin Hammam in his campaign to unseat Blatter as the head of FIFA. Bin Hammam withdrew his candidacy hours before the hearing . . . Chris Pontius and Josh Wolff scored second-half goals as DC United beat Portland, 3-2, to end the expansion Timbers’ MLS home winning streak at five. Perry Kitchen also scored for DC United.