FIFA U-20 World Cup

FIFA bans Zambian official for bribery, match-fixing

Published Feb. 27, 2019 11:20 a.m. ET

ZURICH (AP) — FIFA ethics judges have banned a Zambian soccer official for life for taking bribes to help fix matches.

FIFA says Boniface Mwamelo "accepted bribes to manipulate several international matches in 2010."

Mwamelo, the former vice president and treasurer of Zambia's soccer federation, was also fined 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,000).

It is unclear if Mwamelo was linked to Zambian involvement in previous match-fixing cases.

Several Zambian players were convicted in court in Finland in 2011 for their part in a scam involving fixer Wilson Perumal of Singapore.

FIFA later investigated the Zambian federation for allowing some of those players to take part in domestic games when they were suspended worldwide as a result of the Finnish case.