Another Bosman Ruling Looms Before FIFA as Siasia Challenges His Ban in US Court

Another Bosman Ruling Looms Before FIFA as Siasia Challenges His Ban in US Court

Duro Ikhazuagbe with agency report

Former Super Eagles Head Coach, Samson Siasia has filed a law suit against FIFA in a New York Federal Court in USA seeking for the overturn of his life ban conviction reduced to five years by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) as well as the 50,000 Swiss Franc fine returned.

Siasia who holds dual Nigerian and USA citizenship is also asking for damages for the alleged violation of his civil rights by FIFA.

He insisted that FIFA ran foul of his constitutional rights when it convicted him of bribery and booted him from the organization, claiming in a lawsuit filed Monday that only the U.S. government can charge him.

In the case entitled: Siasia v. Federation Internationale de Football Association, case number 1:21-cv-06516, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is a novel test of the world body’s absolute jurisdiction over football matters. It is in the mound of the Jeane-Mac Bosman case that changed players’ transfer from one club to the other for good.

According to the case filed by Siasia’s attorneys, Nitor V. Egbarin of the Law Office of Nitor V. Egbarin LLC, as a US citizen resident in Atlanta, “In convicting Siasia of bribery, FIFA relied on Swiss bribery law.

“If any crime was committed, only the FBI or Georgia State Police could investigate and bring charges of commercial bribery,” his suit says, adding that “Georgia does not criminalise commercial bribery.”

Siasia said in the court papers that “the soccer international governing body is a state actor that violated his rights to due process under the Fifth and 14th Amendments when it convicted him for his minor role in a wide-ranging conspiracy to fix hundreds of matches by paying off corrupt players and officials.

The suit also says FIFA’s imposing the fine and revoking his license constituted “cruel and unusual punishment” barred by the Eighth Amendment.

Siasia was licensed as a Coach through the United States Soccer Federation, a FIFA affiliate, in 2009. A year later, convicted match-fixer, Wilson Raj Perumal, offered Siasia a coaching job in Australia where he would “play along” and “close one eye” to Perumal’s dealings,” the suit stressed.

In emails sent from Atlanta, Siasia expressed interest, and the two went back and forth on terms but ultimately went their separate ways, according to court papers.

FIFA learned about the messages during a Finnish probe into Perumal and charged Siasia in 2019, yet it failed to properly notify him, his suit stressed.

“Siasia was not aware of the bribery charge for which FIFA indicted him until FIFA published to the whole world in or around Aug. 16, 2019, FIFA’s conviction and imposition of a life ban on Siasia from using the coach license issued under the laws of the United States,” the suit further stated.

However, on an appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland upheld his conviction and fine on June 21, but it reduced the ban to five years, finding a lifetime ouster was disproportionate to the offence, Siasia’s suit recalled.

FIFA’s legal department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

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