The Nation Newspaper

Tag: CAS

  • Suspended UEFA chief Platini takes case to CAS

    Suspended UEFA chief Platini takes case to CAS

    Suspended UEFA president, Michel Platini’s appeal against his six-year ban from soccer was being heard at sport’s highest tribunal on Friday with former FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, among the witnesses.

    Platini, who arrived in a taxi for the hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), is hoping that the ban will be overturned in time for the Euro 2016 tournament holding in France, Reuters reported.

    CAS said a decision could even be made as early as next week, depending on how the day-long hearing progresses.

    Platini, who was favourite to succeed Blatter as president FIFA before he was banned, was mobbed by reporters and cameramen as he entered the building in a leafy Lausanne suburb.

    He was banned for eight years in December along with Blatter over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.08 million) made to the Frenchman by FIFA in 2011 for work done a decade earlier.

    FIFA’s ethics committee, which imposed the ban, said the payment, made at a time when Blatter was seeking re-election, lacked transparency and presented conflicts of interest.

    Both men denied wrongdoing.

    Both had their bans reduced to six years by FIFA’s Appeal Committee in February after it took into account their services to the game.

     

  • CAS to hear Prince Ali’s request on FIFA poll

    CAS to hear Prince Ali’s request on FIFA poll

    The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is to hear an appeal by FIFA presidential candidate, Prince Ali Al Hussein, for Friday’s election to use transparent voting booths and independent scrutinizers, the court said on Tuesday.

    Reuters reported that Prince Ali had sought the measures “to safeguard the integrity of the voting process” but FIFA’s ad-hoc electoral committee declined the request.

    After requesting “urgent interim measures” from CAS, the Swiss-based arbitration court said it would decide on the matter no later than Thursday morning, a day before the election.

  • CAS disowns Giwa, rejects restraining order on FIFA

    CAS disowns Giwa, rejects restraining order on FIFA

    The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected the  request for provisional measures restraining FIFA from suspending Nigeria from internationally-organised football events.

    CAS stated on its official website that the case of the appellants was rejected because “it was without object at this stage.”

    But the appellants’ request for arbitration is still expected to be heard and determined by CAS.

    The appellants, Yahaya Adama, Obinna Ogba, Musa Talle, Effiong Johnson, Chidi Ofor Okenwa, Busari Ishola, Mohammed Saidu and Tijani Jubril asked CAS for “[a]n Interim Order restraining the Respondent (FIFA) whether by themselves, their servants, agents, officers, directors, legal representatives and others whomsoever from suspending, excluding, removing, foreclosing and/or banning the Nigerian Football Federation(NFF) or the Federal Republic of Nigeria from participation howsoever from international and or FIFA organised football events, pending the hearing and final determination of the Request for Arbitration dated  September 5, 2014 by CAS.”

    FIFA in its response, according to CAS, “noted that two cumulative conditions mentioned in the Emergency Committee’s decision dated  September 3, 2014 had been complied with and that therefore the NFF would not be suspended.”

    CAS concluded in its statement that: “Accordingly, the NFF is not suspended and the African Nations Cup qualifier match between South Africa and Nigeria scheduled to take place on September 10  is not affected.”

    On Tuesday, FIFA wrote to the NFF stating that it will not be suspended since “positive steps” had been taken to resolve its governance crisis.

    But the world football governing body warned that it will immediately suspend NFF “should the electoral process be affected by any interference or mishap” till FIFA’s next congress in May 2015.

     

  • CAS disowns Giwa, rejects restraining order on FIFA

    CAS disowns Giwa, rejects restraining order on FIFA

    The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected the request for provisional measures restraining FIFA from suspending Nigeria from internationally-organised football events.

    CAS stated on its official website that the case of the appellants was rejected because “it was without object at this stage.”

    But the appellants’ request for arbitration is still expected to be heard and determined by CAS.

    The appellants, Yahaya Adama, Obinna Ogba, Musa Talle, Effiong Johnson, Chidi Ofor Okenwa, Busari Ishola, Mohammed Saidu and Tijani Jubril asked CAS for “[a]n Interim Order restraining the Respondent (FIFA) whether by themselves, their servants, agents, officers, directors, legal representatives and others whomsoever from suspending, excluding, removing, foreclosing and/or banning the Nigerian Football Federation(NFF) or the Federal Republic of Nigeria from participation howsoever from international and or FIFA organised football events, pending the hearing and final determination of the Request for Arbitration dated  September 5, 2014 by CAS.”

    FIFA in its response, according to CAS, “noted that two cumulative conditions mentioned in the Emergency Committee’s decision dated  September 3, 2014 had been complied with and that therefore the NFF would not be suspended.”

    CAS concluded in its statement that: “Accordingly, the NFF is not suspended and the African Nations Cup qualifier match between South Africa and Nigeria scheduled to take place on September 10  is not affected.”

    On Tuesday, FIFA wrote to the NFF stating that it will not be suspended since “positive steps” had been taken to resolve its governance crisis.

    But the world football governing body warned that it will immediately suspend NFF “should the electoral process be affected by any interference or mishap” till FIFA’s next congress in May 2015.

  • Giwa takes case to CAS

    Giwa takes case to CAS

    The self-acclaimed president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Chris Giwa, has taken his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, africanFootball.com reports.

    In a notice of appeal, he is asking CAS to order FIFA not to ban Nigeria  until the appeal against the non-recognition of his “election” by FIFA is heard.

    However, CAS is yet to reply to this notice.

    Giwa’s last-ditch effort, africanFootball.com gathered, will hit the rocks as FIFA has the right to intervene in the electoral process of  its members.

    The world soccer governing body had earlier in the week warned that if Giwa and other purportedly elected officials of the NFF fail to vacate the Glass House by Monday, Nigeria will be suspended from international football.

     

  • CAS upholds Suarez ban

    CAS upholds Suarez ban

    Uruguay forward Luis Suarez’s four-month playing ban for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but he can now train with his new club Barcelona.

    Suarez remains ineligible to play in official matches during the four-month period, and his nine-game international ban remains in place, Reuters reports.

    “The sanctions imposed on the player by FIFA have been generally confirmed,” CAS said in a statement.

    “However, the four-month suspension will apply to official matches only and no longer to other football-related activities (such as training, promotional activities and administrative matters).”

    “The CAS Panel found that the sanctions imposed on the player were generally proportionate to the offence committed.

    “It has however considered that the stadium ban and the ban from “any football-related activity” were excessive given that such measures are not appropriate to sanction the offence committed by the player and would still have an impact on his activity after the end of the suspension.”

    Suarez’s legal team said they had successfully argued that FIFA had misapplied its own rules when considering the case and the sanction it imposed on other football-related activities was disproportionate.

    “As a result, Suarez is now permitted to train and attend matches with his Barcelona team mates in preparation for the new season,” his lawyers said in a statement.

  • Dominique Blake gets reduced ban

    Dominique Blake gets reduced ban

    The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled Monday  that a six-year doping ban on Jamaican 400-metre runner Dominique Blake was too harsh and should be cut to four and a half years.

    Blake tested positive for the banned substance methylhexanamine at the 2012 Jamaican Olympic Athletics Trials.

    The runner had been a women’s 4×400 relay alternate at the London Olympics that year but did not compete for Jamaica, which took a bronze medal.

    The Jamaican Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel last year handed her a six-year doping, starting on July 24, 2012, saying the harsh sentence was justified by the existence of a first doping offence in 2006 that led to a nine-month ban.

    Blake appealed that decision, insisting that while she had indeed taken Neurocore, which is believed to be the source of the banned substance, she had done so to recover from practice and not to enhance her sport performance.

    CAS partially upheld her appeal, saying Monday “the six-year sanction imposed by the JADAT was deemed too severe.”

    “In view of some mitigating factors, the CAS panel determined that the appropriate sanction should be four years and six months,” it said, adding that the suspension should start on July 1, 2012, the date Blake’s sample was collected.

    The panel however stressed the runner had “failed to establish that she bears no significant fault or negligence.”

  • Dialogue now or get crushed, Minimah tells Boko Haram

    Dialogue now or get crushed, Minimah tells Boko Haram

    Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah, the Chief of Army Staff (CAS), on Wednesday, advised Boko Haram insurgents to embrace dialogue now or get crushed by the military.

    Minimah gave the advice when he spoke with newsmen shortly after an unscheduled visit to Maiduguri.

    “The dialogue table is still open, or else the federal might is available to the armed forces to crush the insurgency,’’ he stressed.

    Minimah was accompanied on the visit by the Chief of Air Staff, Air vice Marshal Adesola Amosu.

    He explained that the visit was aimed at assessing the condition of troops on ground as well as boosting their morale in the fight against the insurgents.

    “We are here on routine visit to assess the condition of our troops, to visit the injured and the wounded in the hospital,’’ Minimah said.

    He urged Nigerians to trust the capability of the military to bring an end to the insurgency.

    On his part, the Chief of Air Staff, AVM Adesola Amosu, said the role of air power is not to destroy but to convince the enemy of the second option available.

    “Essentially, we are here to harass the enemy and to convince them that they need to come either to the table or drop their guns’’, Amosu said.

    He expressed satisfaction with the situation on ground.

    “We are happy with the morale of soldiers on the field, we are also happy about the damage we have already inflicted on the insurgents.

    “The soldiers are in high spirit. I am sure our coming today has further lifted them up’’, Amosu said.

    He said the Nigerian Air Force was to complement the role of the military in the fight.