Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Former FIFA President resigns in disgrace

Joao Havelange, Fifa's honorary president, resigns over bribes

Joao Havelange, 96, has resigned as Fifa's honorary president after a report ruled he had taken bribes.

The Brazilian was described as "morally and ethically reproachable" for taking kickbacks from a World Cup rights marketing agency.

The report by Fifa's ethics chairman Hans-Joachim Eckert also claimed Nicolas Leoz had received bribes.

Leoz, 84, resigned from the governing body's executive committee last week, citing health and personal reasons.

The Paraguayan was accused in the report of being "not fully candid" in his explanations over the affair.

However, while the report says that payments made in the 1990s to Havelange, who was Fifa president from 1974 to 1988, Leoz and former Fifa executive Ricardo Teixeira, Havelange's son-in-law, qualified as bribes, they were not crimes at the time. ...

See the whole story here, from the BBC.

Kicking Back Comments: This both saddens and angers me all at the same time. 

It saddens me as Dr. Havelange was a hero of mine for some time when I was a pup forming the idea I wanted to spend a significant portion of my life chasing a FIFA badge.

It angers me because I question why these resources are investigating a 96 year old man, and former President of FIFA ... why not the man who is there now likely acting in much the same way.

Let's focus on the present actors to set the example for the future ones.

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