Former NFF Chief Involved in $2.3m Bribery Scandal Over Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Bid

• Nigerian sports administrator Amos Adamu has been accused of receiving $2.3million to back the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup bid
• Other former officials fingered in the scandal are Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast
• Adamu was handed a two-year ban in 2017, having earlier served a three-year ban in 2010 over bribery allegations

A former official of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amos Adamu has been accused of receiving $2.3million to back the Qatar 2022 bid.

In 2017, the world's football governing body, FIFA handed Adamu a two-year ban from all football-related activities for ethics violations.

He had earlier served a three-year ban in 2010 for accepting bribes, in relation to the World Cup bids by Russia and the 2018 and 2022 tournaments by Qatar.

In an explosive Netflix series titled FIFA Uncovered, Phaedra Almajid - who is a member of Qatar’s World Cup bid team - made the allegations.

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She stated that in January 2010, she was in a hotel room in Angola with Qatari official Hassan Al-Thawadi when money was offered to three men - Adamu, Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast.

The trio were among the 24 voters to pick the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World tournaments later that year.

Eventually, Qatar was handed the rights to host the 2022 tournament ahead of the USA, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

She said she remembered there being laughed at and Hayatou saying it was not enough, so the bribe was increased.

Almajid told the documentary team, as per Fox Sports:

“We were talking about how Africa had been given its chance to host the World Cup and how the Arab world should be given their chance, and then Hassan offered Hayatou $1 million for Hayatou’s football federation [Cameroon], and in return we wanted his vote."

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Almajid remembered there being laughter and then Hayatou saying the amount was not enough, after which the price was upped to A$2.3m 'just like that'.

"It was just so simple: ‘We will give you this money for your football federation, you give us your vote and thank you so much.’

She added that similar exchanges then took place between Al-Thawadi and both Anouma and Adamu, with millions offered that evening to secure their vote for Qatar.

"It was verbal; I never saw money," Almajid added.

However, the trio denied the allegations, while Qatari official Hassan Al-Thawadi branded Almajid's claims as 'inherently false'.

NFF suspends Nigerian football official

Meanwhile, Sports Brief earlier reported that the Nigeria Football Federation suspended football official Auwalu Jada from all football-related activities.

Auwalu was seen in a viral clip, boasting to a set of local players about how he manipulated some high-profile matches in the Nigeria Professional Football League.

NFF announced the IMC member's suspension and assured that investigations were underway to unravel the alleged match-fixing claims.