Former World Cup inspector has FIFA ban reduced
July 14, 2017
The Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) has cleared Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the inspector for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, to return to football.
The Swiss-based court cut Mayne-Nicholls' three-year ban by football's governing body FIFA to two years on appeal for a conflict of interest in seeking unpaid intern work in Qatar for relatives. The ban, which originally was seven years, has officially expired as a result because it started on July 3, 2015.
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The CAS said in its ruling that two years is the "appropriate and proportionate penalty."
FIFA appointed Mayne-Nicholls, a former president of the Chilean football federation, to lead a six-member team deciding venues for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, eventually awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively. In his role as inspector, he compiled a technical report after visiting all of the prospective countries.
Mayne Nicholls, 56, had also been a potential candidate for the FIFA presidential election when his ethics case was opened in 2014.
dv (AP, Reuters)