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Marco Polo Del Nero
Fifa has suspended Brazilian Football Confederation president Marco Polo del Nero for 90 days while he is under an ethics investigation. Photograph: Sergio Moraes/Reuters
Fifa has suspended Brazilian Football Confederation president Marco Polo del Nero for 90 days while he is under an ethics investigation. Photograph: Sergio Moraes/Reuters

Marco Polo del Nero, Brazil football president, handed 90-day Fifa ban

This article is more than 6 years old
  • Lawyer fled Zurich in May 2015 during US-led probe into football corruption
  • ‘My hope is that he is banned for good,’ says former Brazil forward Romario

Marco Polo del Nero, the Brazilian Football Confederation president, was suspended by Fifa’s ethics committee on Friday, a move that could bring him closer to facing trial in the United States on charges of racketeering and money laundering.

Del Nero has been banned for 90 days from all football activities. The suspension, which starts with immediate effect, can be extended for a further 45 days while the ethics committee’s investigatory chamber carries out a formal investigation into the 76-year-old.

A lawyer by trade, Del Nero has run Brazilian football since the start of 2015 despite being charged by American authorities with money laundering and racketeering later that year. He fled Zurich in May 2015 when dozens of football officials were arrested by Swiss police as part of the US-led investigation into corruption in the global game, and quit his position on Fifa’s executive committee in November that year.

In order to avoid arrest and probable extradition to the US, Del Nero has not left Brazil since May this year and has therefore not represented the Brazilian confederation (CBF) at several South American football confederation and Fifa meetings.

“As many Brazilians that love soccer, my hope is that he is banned for good,” Romario, the former Brazil forward, now a politician in his homeland, wrote on his Facebook page. “Del Nero has already had his crimes exposed along those of other crooks like Jose Maria Marin, who is in jail in the United States, and [former CBF president] Ricardo Teixeira who is still on the loose in Brazil. They all used CBF to get illegally rich.”

Fifa did not give any details of the alleged offences involving Del Nero, saying only that he was “banned from all football activities at both national and international level”. Del Nero has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The CBF named vice president Antonio Carlos Nunes to fill in for Del Nero, but did not offer an immediate comment on Del Nero’s suspension.

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