CAS reduces Kwesi Nyantakyi’s FIFA ban to 12 years

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has reduced the FIFA ban slapped on former Ghana FA President Kwesi Nyantakyi to 12 years, footballmadeinghana.com understands.

The former FIFA Council Member and CAF 1st Vice President was handed a lifetime ban in 2018 from football after he was found guilty after being filmed by an investigative journalist in a hotel room appearing to take a $65,000 bribe from a supposed businessman seeking to sponsor the Ghana Premier League.

He was also fined 500,000 Swiss Francs ($498,000).

“The adjudicatory chamber found Mr Nyantakyi guilty of having violated art. 19 (Conflicts of interest), art. 21 (Bribery and corruption) and art. 22 (Commission) of the FIFA Code of Ethics,” FIFA said in a statement.

“As a consequence, Mr Nyantakyi is banned for life from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level.

FIFA handed a life ban from all football-related activities by FIFA in October 2018 following various violations of the governing body’s ethics code, including bribery and corruption.

The decision is believed to have been communicated to both Kwesi Nyantakyi and FIFA on Monday by the Swiss-based organization.

According to a report on a local radion station Nhyira FM in Ghana, FIFA has also been informed of the decision but this has not been independently confirmed by the three parties.

It is not known if the other sanctions against Nyantakyi have been dropped following the appeal at sport’s highest court.

If this is true, it means Nyantakyi can return to the administration of the game in 2029 but can attend football matches even though he cannot play a part in the administration of the game for now.

Nyantakyi later apologized to Ghana president Nana Akufo-Addo and the government for what he called his “indiscretion”.

He denied any wrongdoing regarding the match-fixing allegations.