Soccer official challenges 10-year FIFA ban for self-dealing

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - An African soccer official found guilty of self-dealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from FIFA challenged his 10-year ban Thursday at sport's highest court.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Chabur Goc Alei, the former president of South Sudan's soccer federation, gave evidence by telephone to the appeal hearing.

A verdict is expected to take at least several weeks.

Alei helped South Sudan become a FIFA member federation in 2012 and gain entitlement to annual grants and development project funds.

FIFA's ethics committee found that Alei profited from his own business exchanging FIFA dollars into local currency at a below-market rate, gave a construction contract to a firm he co-owned with his brother, and diverted money intended for women's and youth soccer. He was fined 500,000 Swiss francs ($508,000).

Details were revealed by a FIFA-ordered audit in 2016 showing how the national soccer body used almost $1.2 million sent from Zurich to South Sudan.

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