Enlarge Photo
A cameraman films in front of the main entrance of the Home of FIFA in...
REUTERS - Factbox on Reynald Temarii and Amos Adamu, the two FIFA executive committee members provisionally suspended from all soccer-related activity on Wednesday for allegedly selling their votes in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup decision:Temarii:
* Tahitian Temarii, 43, formerly played professional football for Nantes in France and internationally for Tahiti.
* After returning to the South Pacific, Temarii spent seven years as Minister for Youth, Sport and Community Life in French Polynesia.
* In 2004, he was elected president of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). He was the first Pacific Islander and French-speaker to head the confederation traditionally dominated by Australia and New Zealand.
* Temarii set about raising the profile of the sport in a region where rugby also features prominently. Re-elected in 2007, he says that under his leadership millions of dollars have been invested in football at grass roots level while the revamped OFC Champions League has seen a huge rise in attendances.
* During his spell, Australia left the OFC to join the Asian confederation but Temarii argued this has helped strengthen the remaining 12 nations whose growth was stunted by Australia dominance.
* He has been on FIFA's executive committee since 2004.
Adamu:
* A former university lecturer, Adamu, 57, is a controversial and outspoken figure in his native Nigeria.
* Adamu was involved in sports administration in Nigeria for around 17 years, firstly as director of sports development, then executive director of the 2003 All Africa Games and finally Director General of the National Sports Commission, a post he left in 2008.
* He joined FIFA's executive committee in 2006.
* Adamu said in an interview with the BBC at the time that he wanted FIFA to drop its opposition to government interference in sport -- something which he has so far been unsuccessful in doing.
"FIFA must know that 99% of football associations in Africa depend on their governments for survival," he said.
"Therefore, if football is to develop in Africa, there must be a working relationship between governments and football administrators. I'm sure FIFA is not anti-government so somebody must tell them that each time African teams want to travel, they ask government for money and they must be held to account.
* Adamu also attributed criticism of him in Nigeria to the fact that he worked for the government and that he did things by the book.
(Compiled by Brian Homewood)
(Editing by Jon Bramley
To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds



