CARIBBEAN Football United (CFU) president Gordon Derrick will consider taking an appeal of FIFA’s ruling, declaring his ineligibility to contest the CONCACAF presidential elections to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).Derrick was barred from the possibility of becoming a vice-president by FIFA ethics committee, a position automatically accorded to the CONCACAF president.
The ban, in effect, would make it pointless for Derrick to contest the election.
The reason for preventing the Caribbean official from taking up the post stems back to the 2011 cash-for-votes scandal.
Derrick was one of several officials to receive a reprimand from the association following the incident and is currently the subject of an ongoing investigation.
The Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) president, who has denied wrongdoing in the incident, has also questioned the timing of the suspension.
“Mr Domenico Scala cited a November 17, 2011 reprimand following the bin Hammam matter, for which I was fined CHF 300, and an ongoing investigation that began over a year ago, on March 6, 2015. I find it curious that the reprimand of 2011 was too minute to warrant an appeal and further that the principal person in the matter was vindicated upon his appeal; yet this was deemed significant enough to derail my candidacy,” Derrick said in a statement.
“It is equally interesting that the investigation opened against me by the FIFA Ethics Committee has been prolonged for over a year and was used as the second plank upon which I was disqualified.
Given the series of events leading up to this announcement, I am not surprised, but I am nonetheless disappointed and concerned,” Derrick added. (Sportsmax.com)