Former Oceania exec gets soccer ban for financial misconduct

ZURICH (AP) — FIFA has banned former Oceania Football Confederation general secretary Tai Nicholas from the game for eight years for financial misconduct.

The adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee imposed the punishment after finding Nicholas guilty of misappropriating FIFA funds linked to the construction of a new headquarters for the OFC in Auckland, New Zealand and for accepting benefits in violation of the ethics code.

Nicholas was also fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($50,000) in the latest punishment for financial wrongdoing linked to the OFC’s $20 million building project.

Former FIFA senior vice president David Chung was banned from soccer for 6½ years in March. The Papua New Guinea official resigned as Oceania president after a FIFA-appointed audit found irregularities linked to awarding of contracts for its new headquarters.