FIFA gives Guatemala soccer body October suspension deadline

[September 16, 2016]    MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Soccer's global governing body, FIFA, on Thursday gave Guatemala's soccer federation until Oct. 1 to avoid suspension by reinstating an oversight committee formed after the arrest of its president.

The facade of the Guatemala's soccer federation (Fedefut) building is pictured in Guatemala City, February 23, 2016. To match Insight SOCCER-FIFA/PROBE-GUATEMALA REUTERS/Josue Decavele

A court of the Sports Confederation of Guatemala, or CDAG, suspended the committee overseeing the Guatemalan national federation, Fedefut, after four local players said they had been wrongly accused of doping. CDAG is a sports governing body to which Fedefut belongs.

"FIFA's council decided to grant Fedefut until October 1 to revoke the decision, and if it does not, Fedefut will be suspended immediately," Fatma Samoura, FIFA's secretary general, said in a letter to the Guatemalan federation.

Fedefut could not immediately be reached for comment.

The FIFA committee was appointed following the arrest of former Fedefut President Brayan Jimenez, who pleaded guilty in July to charges in the United States related to the sale of soccer broadcast rights.

(Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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