FIFA President, Secretary-General To Visit Nigeria July 24

FIFA President, Secretary-General To Visit Nigeria July 24

Adeboye   17:30:00   No comments:

President of world football governing body, FIFA, Mr Gianni Infantino and the Secretary-General, Ms Fatma Samoura, will arrive in Nigeria on July 24 on a two-day working visit.

This is contained in a statement on the website of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Monday.

According to the statement, Infantino confirmed the trip following a meeting with the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick in Paris, France on Sunday.

“The FIFA President and Secretary-General will arrive in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on July 24 on a two-day working visit to Nigeria.

“During the visit, Infantino and Samoura will pay a courtesy call on President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.

“They will also hold meetings with a delegation of African FA presidents who are expected in Nigeria to join the NFF to receive the FIFA top shots and attend an evening session with Corporate Nigeria in Lagos.

“The duo will also meet with Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State before watching the final of the NFF/ZENITH Bank Future Eagles Championship.

“A welcome dinner put together by the League Management Company (LMC) and also to be attended by members of the diplomatic corps is on the cards,” the statement said.

Infantino was elected FIFA President at an Extra-ordinary General Assembly in Zurich on Feb. 26.

Samoura on the other hand was appointed FIFA Secretary-General at the 66th FIFA Congress in Mexico City on May 12.

The Senegalese, who has wide experience working with the United Nations in several countries, is the first ever woman to hold the position in FIFA’s 112-year history.

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Infantino’s Name Mentioned In Panama Papers

Infantino’s Name Mentioned In Panama Papers

Adeboye   22:50:00   No comments:

New FIFA President Gianni Infantino signed off on a contract with two businessmen who have since been accused of bribery, leaked documents reveal.
Hugo and Mariano Jinkis bought TV rights for UEFA Champions League football and immediately sold them on for almost three times the price.
The 2006 contract was signed off by Infantino when he was a UEFA Director.
It is among the 11 million documents leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
UEFA initially denied doing business with any of the 14 people who have been indicted by the FBI in its investigation into corruption in world football.
It has now told the BBC the TV rights were sold to the highest bidder in an open and competitive tender process.
A senior FIFA source has told the BBC the deal should be examined by the governing body’s ethics committee in the interests of transparency.
Hugo and Mariano Jinkis are fighting extradition from Argentina to the United States.
In May 2015, US prosecutors alleged that, as the owners of Cross Trading, they paid millions of dollars in bribes to South American football officials over several years in order to gain lucrative television rights for regional football tournaments.
It is claimed the money was paid to senior football officials in exchange for cheap broadcasting rights that could then be sold on for a substantial profit.
Infantino is named on a contract with Cross Trading that concerns the Ecuadorian rights for UEFA Champions League football between 2006-7 and 2008-9.
Cross Trading, an offshore company registered to the tiny Pacific island of Niue, paid $111,000 (£78,000) for those rights.
Then, according to leaked documents, it sold them to Ecuadorian TV broadcaster Teleamazonas for $311,170 (£220,000).
Cross Trading also paid $28,000 (£20,000) for the rights to the UEFA Super Cup, selling those to Teleamazonas for $126,200 (£89,000).
There is no evidence to suggest Infantino received a bribe relating to the 2006 contract with Cross Trading, and no suggestion Teleamazonas was in any way complicit in any wrongdoing.
At the time, Infantino was the director of legal services with European football’s governing body, UEFA.
Cross Trading also has links to Juan Pedro Damiani, a member of FIFA’s ethics committee who has already been placed under internal investigation.

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