Governing Bodies

OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST EXPELLED OVER SEX SCANDAL

Published

6 years ago

October 28, 2019

BY DUNCAN MACKAY

Zsolt Borkai has been dropped from the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) as he continues to pay the price for appearing in a video that had emerged publicly of him having sex with a young woman on a yacht.

Borkai, a father of two and winner of an Olympic gold medal in pommel horse at Seoul 1988, found himself at the centre of a sex scandal when the X-rated video emerged days before the local elections in Hungary earlier this month.

The footage posted on Pornhub, the world’s largest adult website, showed the 54-year-old Borkai cavorting around with prostitutes surrounded by bottles of alcohol on the yacht off the coast of Croatia in the Adriatic Sea.

Borkai at first claimed he was being targeted in a smear campaign to oust him from office but later admitted it was him in the video.

He managed to retain his position as the Mayor of Hungarian city Győr but the scandal angered Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally whose dominant right-wing Fidesz party suffered large losses in the local elections, which was partly blamed on the scandal.

Shortly after his election victory, Borkai stepped down as a member of Fidesz.

The repercussions are continuing for Borkai.

Borkai was President of MOB between 2010 and 2017 before being defeated in an election by double Olympic fencing medallist Krisztián Kulcsár.

He continued to serve on MOB, though, as a delegate of the Hungarian Gymnastics Federation (MATSZ).

MATSZ have now withdrawn his position and informed MOB it no longer support him.

Following the announcement by MATSZ, MOB claimed “no further disciplinary or ethical action shall take place in this matter, and the case should be deemed closed”.

It seems unlikely this will be the end of the affair, however.

Ádám Steinmetz, a member of Hungary’s water polo team that won the Olympic gold medal at Athens 2004 and now a politician for Fidesz, urged Orbán in Parliament to strip Borkai of the monthly €1,000 (£850/$1,100) state pension awarded to him as a result of his victory at Seoul 1988.

Orbán claimed that was a matter for MOB to rule on, only for the body to claim the decision rested with Hungary’s Sports Minister Tünde Szabó.

Szabó responded by telling Parliament that, under Hungarian law, Borkai can be stripped of his pension only if he is convicted of a criminal offence.

Steinmetz has now revealed he is planning to file an amendment to the bill so that, in future, the MOB can rule on such cases.

Borkai, meanwhile, who is continuing his role as Mayor of Győr in an independent capacity, has not been seen in public for several weeks.

-insidethegames

Governing Bodies

Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council

Published

11 hours ago

April 26, 2025

Kunle Solaja

Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.

The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.

Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.

He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.

An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.

He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.

“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”

Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.

“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.

He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.

“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.

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Governing Bodies

Ex-FIFA Council member and Mali football chief released from jail

Published

3 days ago

April 23, 2025

Kunle Solaja

A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.

Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.

He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.

The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.

He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.

Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.

While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.

-Reuters

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Governing Bodies

Nigeria Football Federation denies owing late national captain and coach, Chukwu

Published

2 weeks ago

April 14, 2025

Kunle Solaja

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.

Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.

The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.

Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.

“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.

“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”

Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.

“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”

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