The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) has significantly reduced the lifetime ban imposed on former Nigeria coach Samson Siasia by FIFA in 2019 to a fixed period of five years. The ban, which Cas has backdated to 16 August 2019, means Siasia will be eligible to return to football activities in August 2024.
Siasia was initially sanctioned for agreeing to receive bribes related to match manipulation, a charge he appealed. Cas determined that a life ban was disproportionate for a first, passively committed offense that did not have an immediate adverse effect on football stakeholders.
Case Details Revealed by Cas:
- In 2010, a match-fixer attempted to involve Siasia as a coach, requiring him to field specific players under the match-fixer’s control in exchange for employment benefits.
- Negotiations between Siasia and the match-fixer took place over two months via email but eventually ceased because the club could not meet Siasia’s financial requests.
In addition to reducing the duration of the ban, Cas canceled the CHF 50,000 (US$50,000) fine, arguing that the five-year ban already constituted a sufficient financial punishment, especially since Siasia did not obtain any financial gain from the unethical behavior.
Siasia is a highly decorated figure in Nigerian football, having won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations as a player, and later winning Olympic silver (2008) and bronze (2016) medals as a coach, making him the most decorated African football coach at the Olympics.
