Saudi Arabia bans FIFA referee Fahad al Mirdasi for life over bribery allegations
The Saudi Arabian Football Federation has banned referee Fahad al-Mirdasi for life over bribery and urged FIFA to remove him from the pool of referees for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Mirdasi was suspended for offering to take a bribe to influence the
outcome of a match, the federation’s disciplinary and ethics committee
said late Tuesday. The 32-year-old is one of Saudi Arabia’s most
prominent referees, having earned a FIFA badge in 2011 and officiating
at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 and the Confederations Cup in
Russia in 2017.
He was chosen to referee Saudi Arabia’s Kings Cup final between top
clubs Al-Faisaly and Al-Ittihad on Saturday but was pulled from the
roster just a few hours before the game. In a statement, the
disciplinary and ethics committee said Mirdasi had approached the
president of Al-Ittihad asking him for a bribe to enable his team to
win.
“The Ittihad president Hamad Al-Sanayeh called the Saudi Football
Federation to state there was evidence that Fahad Al-Mirdasi had
reached out via text messages on WhatsApp. He asked for an illegal sum
of money in exchange for helping his team win the game,” it said.
The case was referred to the Saudi Football Federation, then the
General Authority for Sport the highest sports authority in the kingdom
triggering an administrative investigation. Mirdasi confessed to the
charges, according to the statement, and it was decided “to deprive him
from participating in any football activity for life”.
The committee recommended that Saudi Arabia officially request FIFA
to remove Mirdasi from the list of referees participating in the 2018
World Cup and suspend him for life. “Our integrity is above all
considerations,” said Turki Al-Sheikh, head of the General Authority for
Sport. Mirdasi was one of five Arab referees chosen by FIFA to
officiate at the 2018 World Cup.
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