Romario to run for head of corruption-hit Brazilian Football Confederation

Romario, a striker in the 1994 World Cup-winning Brazil national football team, said on Wednesday that he wants to clean up the Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) after FIFA’s suspension of the current head Marco Polo Del Nero.

Brazilian former international star turned senator Romario said he wants to run for the presidency of the country’s corruption-tainted football governing body.

Brazilian senator and former football star Romario de Souza has announced his willingness to lead the powerful Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), after FIFA provisionally suspended its president Marco Polo Del Nero, accused of corruption. (AFP)

Romario, a striker in the 1994 World Cup winning side, on Wednesday said he wants to clean up the Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) after FIFA’s suspension of the current head Marco Polo Del Nero, who is accused of graft.

“Many people have asked me to be a candidate. No one has fought more vigorously than me against this band. So the answer is yes, I can be a candidate,” he said on Facebook.

“I meet all the criteria thanks to my contribution to football on and off the field,” said Romario, 51, who has been a senator since 2015.

The 76-year-old, a former member of the FIFA Council, is the latest prominent South American official to be banned by the sport’s governing body as part of its investigation into a vast corruption scandal

Del Nero was indicted on corruption charges in the United States in December 2015. His predecessor at the CBF, Jose Maria Marin, has been on trial in New York since November alongside Paraguayan former CONMEBOL president Juan Angel Napout and ex-Peruvian football chief Manuel Burga.