Gold Cup

FIFA bans 3rd Afghan soccer official in sexual abuse scandal

Published Dec. 3, 2019 9:36 a.m. ET

ZURICH (AP) — FIFA has banned a third Afghanistan soccer official implicated in a sexual abuse scandal alleged by women’s national team players.

FIFA says its ethics committee judges banned Mohammad Hanif Sediqi Rustam from soccer for five years for failing to report complaints over several years. Soccer officials have a duty to disclose wrongdoing.

Sediqi Rustam was a secretarial assistant to the now-disgraced Keramuudin Karim, the former Afghan soccer body president. FIFA banned Karim for life in June after several players accused him of repeated sexual abuse.

Sediqi Rustam’s five-year ban and 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,125) fine are the same sanctions FIFA imposed in October on Sayed Aghazada, the former general secretary of Afghan soccer.

Aghazada was elected this year to the Asian Football Confederation executive committee despite the allegations. He is no longer listed as a member of the ruling panel.