LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Banished from football for seeking bribes, former FIFA executive committee member Amos Adamu has appealed to sport's highest court to overturn his three-year suspension.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Thursday that Tongan official Ahongalu Fusimalohi has also challenged his two-year ban on separate corruption charges linked to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests.
"In both cases, the appellants request that they be found not guilty and the sanctions against them be annulled," the court said in a statement.
CAS has yet to fix dates for the two hearings, and more could follow.
FIFA's ethics court sanctioned Adamu, Fusimalohi and four other senior officials last November in a scandal that threw the World Cup bidding process into turmoil.
Instead of enjoying global attention on the blockbuster bid races, FIFA President Sepp Blatter was forced to defend its integrity and reputation.
Blatter insisted FIFA was not institutionally corrupt, and spoke of society being "full of devils and, these devils, you find them in football."
Adamu, a former Nigeria sports minister, was found guilty of seeking bribes from British undercover reporters posing as bid lobbyists.
The Sunday Times published edited video showing Adamu asking for $800,000 (€590,000) paid directly to him to build four artificial football fields in his homeland. He said this could influence how he voted in the Dec. 2 elections.
He was suspended before the vote and later lost his place representing Africa on FIFA's 24-member ruling panel.
Adamu denied wrongdoing but FIFA's appeals panel upheld his punishment in February.
Fusimalohi was among four past members of FIFA's high command who were suspended after advising the reporters how to bribe FIFA officials and to pay $1 million.
CAS did not say on Thursday if former Oceania football president Reynald Temarii, Adamu's former executive colleague, appealed his one-year ban for breaching FIFA loyalty rules.
Temarii also was secretly filmed by the newspaper, appearing to suggest he could receive money to fund a football academy in Auckland, New Zealand. FIFA's ethics court cleared the Tahitian official of acting corruptly.
Without Adamu and Temarii, FIFA's executive committee chose Russia to host the 2018 World Cup and awarded the 2022 event to Qatar.
Like Fusimalohi, Tunisian lawyer Slim Aloulou and Malian official Amadou Diakite were trapped by The Sunday Times' reporters.
Aloulou was banned for one year and lost his position chairing FIFA's disputes resolution panel. Diakite got a two-year ban and was removed from FIFA's referees committee.
Both are entitled to appeal to CAS.
A sixth official, Ismail Bhamjee of Botswana, accepted his four-year ban imposed by FIFA's ethics panel.
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