FIFA rejects Austin appeal

FIFA have rejected an appeal by leading Caribbean official Lisle Austin against a one-year ban.

Austin, from Barbados, was given the ban in August after he went to court in the Bahamas to try to force through his claim to succeed Jack Warner as president of the CONCACAF federation.

FIFA said in a statement: “The FIFA Appeal Committee on 4 November 2011, under the chairmanship of Mr Francisco Acosta (Ecuador), rejected the appeal lodged by the official Mr Lisle B. Austin, and the decision of the FIFA disciplinary committee passed on 9 August 2011 is confirmed.”

Austin was initially made acting president when Warner was suspended on bribery charges, but was himself suspended by CONCACAF when he tried to sack Chuck Blazer, the organisation’s general secretary and the man who blew the whistle on the cash gifts.

FIFA’s statutes say officials should not go to civil courts to settle disputes.