Crisis-hit football world governing body FIFA has fined Spain’s UEFA vice president Angel Maria Villar Llona and suspended two African officials for six months, the body’s ethics committee announced on Friday.
Villar Llona, who is also the president of the Spanish Football Association, was given a 25,000 Swiss francs (23,200 euros) fine and warned for his failure to cooperate with investigations into the bidding process for the 2018 World Cup which was awarded to Russia.
“Mr Villar Llona failed to behave in accordance with the general rules of conduct applicable to football officials in the context of the investigations conducted by the then chairman of the investigatory chamber of the FIFA ethics committee regarding the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bids,” read a FIFA statement.
“As he subsequently expressed his commitment to collaborate and demonstrated a willingness to cooperate, he has been sanctioned with a warning and a fine of CHF 25,000.”
FIFA also handed down immediate six-month bans on Congolese Football Association vice-president Jean Guy Blaise Mayolas and secretary general Badji Mombo Wantete.
Mayolas and Wantete were found guilty of breaking FIFA rules in relation to “offering and accepting gifts and other benefits”.
They were already serving provisional bans which means the remaining time of their punishment is only 45 days.