An occurrence outside football has led to the suspension of the West African nation’s football chief.
Fifa have slapped Guinea-Bissau Football Association president Manuel Nascimento with a 10-year ban from all football-related activities for “his involvement and participation in an incident of mob justice.”
A fiery critic of Caf president Ahmad Ahmad and Fifa secretary general Fatma Samoura, Nascimento was also ordered to pay 100,000 Swiss francs ($108,000) as a fine.
In handing the ruling, the Fifa adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee found Nascimento, guilty of “having breached his duty to protect the physical and mental integrity of others, in violation of the Fifa Code of Ethics.”
The Fifa sanctions came a day before the Guinea-Bissau FA was due to hold elections, with Nascimento – who has been at the helm since 2012 – seeking a third term.
Reports from Guinea-Bissau suggested that he arrived at the FA’s headquarters early Saturday morning but the five candidates he had been due to contest against threatened to boycott the elections while urging the electoral body to respect Fifa’s decision.
It was not yet clear, at the time of writing, if the elections went ahead.
Not much has been revealed about the incident for which Nascimento was sanctioned by Fifa.
“The investigation into Mr Nascimento concerned his involvement and participation in an incident of mob justice against a man in Guinea-Bissau,” said Fifa.
“In its decision, the adjudicatory chamber ruled that, based on information, including video material, gathered by the investigatory chamber, Mr Nascimento had breached his duty, as per the Fifa Code of Ethics, to protect the physical and mental integrity of the man who was the victim of the mobbing.
“Consequently, the adjudicatory chamber found that Mr Nascimento had breached art. 23 [Protection of physical and mental integrity] of the Fifa Code of Ethics and sanctioned him with a ban from all football-related activity [administrative, sports or any other] at both national and international level for ten years.”
It is not yet known if Nascimento will appeal Fifa’s sentence on him.
His punishment for a non-football related matter follows the sanctions on former Central Republic Republic Football Association president Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, who was banned by Fifa last November for suspected participation in an armed conflict in his country.
The controversial Ngaissona, who was a Caf executive committee member, has since been hauled to the International Criminal Court at The Hague to face trial over alleged war crimes.
