Five days before the end of a grace period to appeal against his worldwide life ban from football activities by FIFA over alleged complicity in match-fixing , Samson Siasia has made an emotional appeal to billionaire businessmen, Femi Otedola and Aliko Dangote for financial support to enable him pay the mandatory 100,000 Swiss Francs (N36.4m) appeal fee at Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), Completesports.com reports.
The fee must be paid latest October 10 if Siasia’s appeal against the life ban slammed on him by FIFA must be heard by CAS.
Siasia’s team of lawyers recently responded to the FIFA life ban and headed to CAS to clear the former Super Eagles forward and coach from the alleged match-fixing.
And with the October 10 deadline only five days away, Siasia is now begging Otedola and other public spirited Nigerians to help him raise the (N36.4m) so that CAS will look into his appeal.
“I’m appealing to (Femi) Otedolas and (Aliko) Dangotes of this World to help me. I have only five days to file an appeal at CAS and should I fail to appeal before October 10, the appeal would never be heard again,” Siasia cried out passionately on Friday when Completesports.com spoke to him.
“I’ve been into football all my life. I can’t just stop for an offence I know nothing about.
“That’s reason I’m taking this matter to CAS, at least to clear my name. That (football) is the only thing that has brought food to my table.
“Nigerians should please help me out. I don’t want my coaching career to terminate on October 10.”
By Sab Osuji
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COMMENTS
Time for Nigerians to rise in defence of their own.
Nigerian must protect Siasia.
Unfortunate #sad
Oyinbo knew Wat dey are doing. Silver winning under 20 .Olympic silver. Oyinbo Don see future. Probably going to win silver in world cup for Nigeria .hence the quick ban.
The travails of Siasia. From one calamity to another. NFF is mum. Govt is mum. Will Dangote & Otedola also forsake him? The Lord be with you as you walk through this valley of the shadow of death.
My biggest pain is seeing Fifa destroying one of Africa’s finest just to prevent any future greatness from Nigeria or Africa and we fold our hands NFF and New sports minister if Siaone is banned for life then you’ve all lost it.
We need to put sentiments aside and face reality here.There can’t be smoke without fire. What if FIFA was right. U can’t tell me that FIFA just woke up one day and filed allegations, afterall, they have nothing to gain from them. Mr Siasia knows the truth and only the truth can set him free. Denials cannot exonerate someone from a crime. Mr gandunje was caught on camera stuffing his agbada with dollar bill bribe but wetin happen las las, he denied it and the matter got swept under the carpet. U can’t eat ur cake and have it. It was a deal gone bad and he should face the music. Really do not think the aforementioned people will listen to him bcos his hands are dented. No right thinking biz person no matter how rich will financially support such a case that they know nothing about and the outcome could go either way. Corruption case no be charity work.
I think it’s wrong to condemn and believe FIFA had something on him based on some frivolous charges… He was not even given a chance to defend himself… What match exactly did he fix… The confessor talked about helping Nigeria qualify for 2010 world cup at Tunisia’s expense and even then Siasia was not even the Super Eagles coach… He was sanctioned without even any forwarded communication through the NFF to him… It was alleged FIFA invited him to hear his side of the story but the email was sent to his Hotmail that is long abandoned… Something is fishy!
Jimmy God bless you for responding to the idiot
So he bride tunisia to lose to mosaabique. I can’t get this.
The guy perumal… Or whatever exactly his name is, said he got Kenya to lose to Nigeria and Mozambique to beat Tunisia… so he got to Kenya and Mozambique… If you recall that crucial qualifier between Tunisia and Mozambique at Maputo which Tunisia lost by a lone goal… The Nigeria NFA higher-ups then vowed to do everything humanly possible to make Nigeria qualify and maybe that involved inducing Mozambiqu to play hard and win while Kenya surrenders to Nigeria in Nairobi… Well I don’t know how it al went down but Nigeria got its needed result but how Siasia could have been a part of that is what I am not sure… If you would recall the only case that came close to when Siasia handled Super Eagles was when we beat Argentina in a friendly by 4 – 1 in I think 2011 or 2012 and a rumour just broke out that the match was fixed… We laughed at it then… Before Argentina hurriedly called for a rematch in India that Messi was called to play and we lost that one 3-1… I think those games was organised by the man who confessed and FIFA said they had a picture of the man and Siasia somewhere during some game in Malaysia… I think a game involving Nigeria.
Hmm bangladesh not India. I watched it live.den.OK
Why did he fail to update his data with FIFA that made an email to be sent to an outdated email address his? Who’s to blame here, FIFA or sisia? Bro, in as much sisia our own I still believe that something serious must have happened to make FIFA act this way. Let’s not forget that this case of match fixing is very common esp amongst coaches. It’s a cool lucrative deal that takes place every now and then behind closed doors but his fell through. Some would say it’s bcos he’s black and oyibo people no Like blacks with the racisim thread but have we forgotten that Mitchel PLatini has been given his own hammer irrespective of how highly placed he was. Corruption needs to be ruthlessly dealt with without favouritism. Salisu tried it, it was discovered and was given a slap on the wrist pinishement. If his case wasnt discovered, who would have believed that he’d engage in such an unethical practice, absolutely no one I believe. Sisia got it wrong somewhere and he needs to go in for it, sentiments aside. Period!!
…the failure to update records may be superficial in slamming him with such crushing penalty… FIFA can always reach him directly through NFF should they feel he was evading an imminent appearance before the ethics committee of FIFA… In this case NFF was not aware neither was Siasia notified through other concerted efforts like writing to NFF hierarchy since this has to do with someone who by extension is part of the NFF setup in the capacity of one of her coaches… I mean look at it @oakfield… We have all one time or the other used multiples email addresses before… some for which we no longer remember the password…
This is very unfair. The man never got a chance to defend himself, not even once. seven if he is eventually guilty he deserves a fair chance of defending himself. We Africans are way too quick in throwing our owns under a bus without blinking n eye. Even if Siasia is guilty, I doubt FIFA will treat him this way if he is European. The basis for such a magnitude of sanction and accusation from FIFA is way too vague. Secondly, just to respond to their allegations will cost a whopping 100 000 Swiss Francs! Thay is such unfair. What have they done to the CAF president after all the corruption allegations against him? Bunch of hypocrites! And eventually if it turns out that he is not guilty, how much will they pay him for defamation of character and the trauma?
Coach Samson Siasia has contributed immensely to Naija sport industry. Therefore well spirited Naija should help this one of our outstanding coach, for he still has a lot to contribute to Naija sport fraternity. Once more, Samson the Lord is your strength.
should have just stayed in Europe after football, see what they have done to him, his mother being abducted, and this fifa issue, someone i smell don’t like him, how can he fix match, how can? This man don’t deserve to be happy,these are signs that this man may end up like his late compatriots, now he is alive Nigerians should help him, not when he dies people start pouring nonsense R.I.P. he is our living legend, go fund can assist. I hope he scale through all these melee. Bro, leave that country.
Somebody will pay all that money only to get to the court and there are irrefutable evidence against Siasia. Wouldnt that be a bad investment? How much was he accused of taking as a bribe?
That’s a ridiculous amount of money to pay!
I`m not gonna blame or condemn Siasia here because nobody knows the truth but whichever way, FIFA will bring forward their case and Siasia with come forward with his defence and CAS will come up with the judgement. But what is certain is, there is no 2 without a 1, I don’t believe FIFA will suddenly come out this hard without any element, maybe they blew the whole issue out of proportion which is very possible but there must be something which only Siasia can tell Nigerian , let him him come out with his part of the story, like the Nigerian military If you heard about a coup and you don’t whistleblow then you are part of it. So when people coming out here with talk about FIFA trying to destroy Siasia because they`ve seen his future or they`ve got something against him bla bla bla, that’s too lame, let us be reasonable here.
@saintp,u got the jerk. There must be something up his sleeves that he doesn’t want us to know but he knows the truth. But sentiments would not allow most of us put on their thinking cap. Sentiments are one of the things that has made corruption thrive in our society today. We allow sentiments to cloud our sense of reasoning and judgement. Imagine some people saying that FIFA banned him bcos of his past achievements and future prospects. That’s rubbish and very lame,man!!! Which international club or world class national team is he coaching or which caf executive position is he occupying that FIFA should see him as a threat, the man is even jobless for crying out loud. Smh….
Some Nigerians are too quick to condemn our own, some of you have never experienced racism , so you don’t know what white people are capable of doing to you just because of your skin color. Samson Siasia is well known to Fifa as a former Nigerian international and one of the few successful African coaches. So if it is not a deliberate attempt to destroy him why would Fifa try him in absentia after all Fifa governs football in Nigeria through NFF , so before inviting Siasia why didn’t they inform NFF and when Fifa could not get hold of Siaone why didn’t they contact him through NFF instead of hurriedly slamming a life ban on him. What is the secrecy about the evidence they have is just an allegation by a sinking man and credible judgement can ever be made without hearing from the defendant. We should learn how to support our hero’s in times like this, it is unfair to start accusing him of lying even when he has said he is innocent.