Rio De Janeiro, Dec 5 (IANS) The presidents of South American football confederation CONMEBOL and North, Central America and Caribbean confederation CONCACAF have been suspended for 90 days, world football governing body FIFA said on Friday.
The announcement came a day after Paraguayan Juan Angel Napout, head of CONMEBOL and Honduran Alfredo Hawit, CONCACAF’s chief, were arrested in Zurich on corruption charges, Xinhua reported.
They are accused by the US authorities of accepting bribes for deals involving tournament media and marketing rights.
The pair, who are also FIFA vice presidents, are barred from all football-related activity.
A US justice department indictment published on Thursday named 16 football officials charged with corruption.
Among them was the president of Brazil’s football federation (CBF) Marco Polo Del Nero and former CBF president Ricardo Teixeira.
The announcement prompted Del Nero to request an immediate leave of absence. He has been replaced on an interim basis by CBF vice president Marcus Antonio Vicente.