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Samson Siasia loses suit in US against FIFA

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Soccer’s world governing body FIFA prevailed in a U.S. appeals court over a former Nigeria national team coach seeking to overturn his lifetime ban, later reduced to five years, for fixing matches.

In a 3-0 decision on Thursday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Samson Siasia did not show why a trial court in New York had jurisdiction over his case.

FIFA had in 2019 imposed the lifetime ban, saying Siasia violated its code of ethics over a bribery scheme for Australian matches. The ban prevented Siasia from using his U.S. Soccer Federation coaching license.

Siasia, an Atlanta resident and former Nigeria striker, sued FIFA in August 2021, saying the evidence was “grossly insufficient” and that the ban violated his due process rights under the U.S. Constitution.

But the appeals court said Siasia did not show that FIFA was “essentially at home” in New York, or agreed to be sued there because it banned his use of what Siasia called his “New York” coaching license from its alleged New York “agent,” U.S. Soccer.

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-Reuters

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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