SAMSON Siasia, a former super eagles player and coach has been banned for life from all football-related activities by FIFA after being found guilty of taking bribes in connection with match-fixing.
The decision was made by the FIFA adjudicatory chamber of the independent ethics committee and was officially announced on Friday through a statement made available on its website.
The committee said Siasia was found guilty of receiving bribes in relation to the manipulation of matches in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics, which he accepted.
In addition to the ban, a fine in the amount of CHF 50,000, totalling more than N18 million, was imposed on him.
“The decision was notified to Siasia today, the date on which the ban comes into force,” the statement read.
The ethics proceedings against Siasia had been instituted since February 11, 2019, through its component departments and in cooperation with the relevant stakeholders and authorities.
The initiation of the investigation stemmed from an “extensive investigation into matches that Mr Wilson Raj Perumal attempted to manipulate for betting purposes”.
Perumal, from Singapore, had been convicted for several match-fixing scandals, including the Asiagate match-fixing scandal between 2007 and 2009 and the Finnish one.
Match-fixing is a dishonest practice of determining the outcome of a match before being played.
FIFA did not identify those matches Siasia had fixed. In other words, those matches he collected bribe for by changing their outcomes were not mentioned by FIFA.
Stating the judgment placed on him, FIFA said Siasia breached “art. 11 (Bribery) of the 2009 edition of the FIFA Code of Ethics and banned him for life from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level”.
Samson Siasia was a former Nigerian football striker. He played 51 international matches for Nigeria, in which he scored 13 goals.
He was part of the team that participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup and won the 1994 African Nations Cup. Siasia participated in the National Team over a period of 11 years.
When he retired from active playing, he was appointed the national U-23 coach in January 2007. He became the head coach of the Nigerian men’s national football team, also known as Super Eagles, in 2010 lasting to October 2011.
In February 2016, the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) declared him as the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles.
He led the men’s under-23s team at the 2016 Olympics where they beat Honduras 3-2 in the bronze medal match.