FIFA ethics probe calls for ban against ex-S. Africa chief

FIFA ethics committee investigators have called for a six-year ban against the former head of the South African Football Association Kirsten Nematandani over his alleged role in 2010 match-fixing, a statement said Wednesday. The committee was also seeking lifetime bans over the same offence against a former official from the Zimbabwe Football Association, Jonathan Musavengana, and the ex-coach of Togo’s national team, Banna Tchanile. The possible sanctions follow a probe led by the deputy chief of FIFA’s Independent Ethics Committee, Djimbaraye Bourngar, and are subject to approval by judges at world football’s governing body. Nematandani, the most prominent name in the group, was put on “special leave” in December 2012 following a FIFA report into match-fixing. He was reinstated in January 2013 but not cleared of any wrongdoing and subsequently left the SAFA. A 2012 FIFA investigation looked into South Africa’s friendly matches before the 2010 World Cup against Thailand, Bulgaria, Colombia and Guatemala. It produced a 500-page report that documented the activities of convicted Singapore-based match-fixer Wilson Perumal and his Football 4U organisation. Musavengana was first penalised over alleged match-fixing in 2012 by the Zimbabwean association in a scandal that also involved former national coach Sunday Chidzambwa. Zimbabwean retired high court judge Ahmed Ebrahim conducted an investigation that implicated multiple football power brokers in the country in match-fixing orchestrated by Asian gambling syndicates.