Oceania Football Confederation seeks to replace FIFA executive committee member
The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is seeking to replace its representative on FIFA's executive committee after Tahiti's Reynold Temarii, head of the OFC, was banned by from voting by FIFA earlier this month.
The committee, which is set to vote on which two bids will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups on Thursday 2 December, will be comprised of 22 members rather than 24 at the vote after Temarii and Nigeria's Amos Adamu were banned and fined
earlier this month.
But the OFC is now considering replacing the banned Temarii with another representative to retain its vote on the committee.
"There's [an OFC] meeting going ahead on Saturday in Auckland, [where] the executive committee will discuss all the recent developments including the suspensions and the possible outcomes," Priscilla Duncan, spokeswoman for the body, told
Reuters. "There's a lot to be discussed in the meeting."
Temarii and Adamu were subject to an investigation by the
Sunday Times in September which held that the two officials agreed to vote for United States' 2022 bid in exchange for sizable football-related investments in their home countries.
The pair escaped charges of corruption, but were punished by FIFA's ethics committee for failing to report the approach by the two reporters, who were disguised as American lobbyists at the time.
FIFA has said that Temarii, who is in the process of suing the newspaper for defamation, can only be replaced if he resigns from the committee.
It is thought that the OFC will ask Temarii to do so at Saturday's meeting in an attempt to clear the way for his replacement.
Single bids from England and Russia, as well as joint ones from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands are vying to host the 2018 tournament, while Qatar, the United States, South Korea, Australia and Japan are the contenders for 2022.
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