Tuesday 22nd June 2021: The Court of Arbitration for Sports, (CAS), on Monday, reduced the life time FIFA ban on former Super Eagles Coach Samson Siasia to five years ban.

CAS also cancelled outright, the $50,000 fine imposed on him, while also backdating the ban to start on August 16, 2019.

Recall that in August 2019, the world football governing body, FIFA banned Siasia for life and fined him $50,000 for agreeing to “the manipulation of matches” for betting purposes.

According to FIFA, Siasia ban was arrived at, as a result of attempted plan to fix match. In a statement from FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee said, “Siasia was found guilty of having accepted that he would receive bribes in relation to the manipulation of matches for betting purposes.” But Siasia denied the charges and appealed the ban at CAS.

CAS in its ruling said Siasia, being a first offender should not have been banned for life. It also said the offence was committed passively and did not have an adverse or immediate effect on football stakeholders.

Also, it is inappropriate and excessive to impose financial sanction in addition to the five-year ban, since the ban’s sanction already incorporated a financial punishment in eliminating football as a source of revenue for him. The CAS also considered the fact that he had not obtained any gain from his unethical behaviour.

In his response after the news from the CAS judgement filtered in, Siasia said, he cannot say anything on the new judgement until he gets briefings from his lawyers.