Romario Starts Corruption Campaign

Brazil legend Romario has launched a movement to end corruption at the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) as he seeks to change rules that prevent him from leading the governing body.

Romario, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 1994, entered the political world after concluding his playing career in 2009 and was elected to the Senate in Rio de Janeiro in 2014.

With CBF president Marco Polo del Nero having been suspended for 90 days by FIFA on Friday, two years after he was indicted in the United States on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, Romario said he would like to take the role.

However, current rules prevent anyone from outside the CBF becoming president.

Romario said he is starting a movement titled “Diretas Já” — the name of the civil unrest movement that ended the military dictatorship in Brazil in the 1980s — in an effort to change the rules as he accused ex-FIFA president Joao Havelange, who died aged 100 last year, and former FIFA executive committee member Ricardo Teixeira of having left a lasting culture of corruption.

He wrote on Instagram: “After FIFA suspended CBF president Marco Polo Del Nero from carrying out any football activity nationally and internationally, there is one question in the air. Who will become the next CBF president?

“The correct answer is to say that it will be one of his corrupted and vice-presidents that are part of the system created by Havelange, maintained by Teixeira and all the others that succeeded him.”

The 51-year-old, whose playing career involved spells with Vasco da Gama, PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona and Flamengo, led an inquiry to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Brazilian football officials in 2015.

Source: Dailyguide