SHOCKER! FIFA bans ex-Super Eagles coach, Samson Siasia for life over match fixing

FIFA has banned former Super Eagles coach, Samson Siasia, for life after finding him guilty of taking bribes in connection with match fixing.

In a statement issued on Friday, the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s independent ethics committee said the probe targeting Siasia stemmed from a wider investigation involving Wilson Raj Perumal, who has confessed to international match-fixing.

The probe, which began in February, found Siasia “guilty of having accepted that he would receive bribes in relation to the manipulation of matches in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics,” the statement said.

In addition to being banned from all football related activity for life, Siasia was also handed a fine of 50,000 Swiss francs ($50,000, 46,000 euros).

FIFA did not detail the nature of ties to Perumal, a Singaporean national who was arrested and jailed in Finland in 2011 for fixing top-tier football games there.

Perumal later collaborated with match fixing investigators.

Siasia is the third African to be banned by the world football body for his links to Perumal. Former Sierra Leone FA official Abu Bakarr Kabba and former Botswana FA official Mooketsi Kgotlele were suspended in July for five years and for life respectively.

Siasia played 51 times as a striker for the Super Eagles scoring 16 goals and later coached various national youth sides before he was appointed as the senior national team coach in 2016.

He won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria.

Last month, gunmen kidnapped his mother at her residence at Adoni community in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa state.