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Stephen Keshi Escapes FIFA Ban For Calling Ex-Malawi Coach “A White Dude”

stephen keshi fifa ban

Oct 2nd, 2013 – Nigeria’s Super Eagles Coach Stephen Keshi Escapes FIFA Ban Over Racist Comment On Ex-Malawi Coach

Stephen Keshi Called Former Malawi Coach, Tom Saintfiet “A White Dude”

…….FIFA warned Keshi against future abuse

stephen keshi fifa ban

Super Eagles Head Coach, Stephen Keshi, can now heave a sigh of relief after FIFA only slammed him with a warning for allegedly making comments perceived to have a racist slant towards former Malawi coach, Tom Saintfiet.

A FIFA spokesman exclusively told THISDAY last night that FIFA Disciplinary Committee after investigating Saintfiet’s complaint, decided to impose a warning on Keshi over the matter.
He said that a decision was reached on the subject after the Chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, Claudio Sulser, referred to Article 57 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.

Tom Saintfiet

Sulser, who is from Switzerland, warned and requested that Keshi must guarantee that incidents of such high gravity do not occur again in the future.

“If such incidents should happen again, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee will be left with no other option than to impose sanctions against the coach, Mr Stephen Keshi,” the FIFA spokesman told THISDAY last night.

By the tone of Article 57, it is assumed that Keshi only escaped with a warning as his conduct was deemed to fall under offensive behaviour and fair play and not racism as Saintfiet claimed.

The article states that: “Anyone who insults someone in way by using offensive gestures or language, or who violates the principle of fair play or whose behaviour is unsporting in any other way may be subject to sanctions in accordance with Article 10 ff”.
The pronouncement will be a welcome relief for Keshi and officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) ahead of the Super Eagles trip to Addis Ababa, where Nigeria is due to face Ethiopia on October 13 in the first-leg of the World Cup play-off.

FIFA had last month queried Keshi and given him a two-week ultimatum to respond to Saintfiet’s complaints against him.

In the build-up to the last group match between Nigeria and Malawi on September 7 the two gaffers engaged each other in mind games with Saintfiet insisting that Calabar was not safe to play the game.

In anger, Keshi had furiously lashed Saintfiet. The Belgian in turn reported the Eagles gaffer to FIFA, asking that the match be moved to a neutral venue as Calabar was deemed unsafe.

It was not until Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, issued a security guarantee before FIFA was convinced that the match be allowed to be played at the designated venue.

In the comments that riled Saintfiet and informed a petition from his former employers, the Football Association of Malawi (FAM), Keshi was quoted to have called the Belgian a white dude:“He is not an African person, he is a white dude. He should go back to Belgium.”

[Report By Olawale Ajimotokan, THISDAY]

18 Comments

18 Comments

  1. Michael Idabor

    October 2, 2013 at 8:53 AM

    What is the big deal Keshi said the truth now

  2. Toria

    October 2, 2013 at 8:54 AM

    Keshi please be careful what you say in the public
    Comments like this should be made on a professional mission

  3. Thomas

    October 2, 2013 at 8:58 AM

    Is anyone there who witnessed Keshi saying that.
    I think Tom cooked up the story to get Keshi in trouble.
    He is too jealous of the Super Eagles

    • abiola afolabi

      October 3, 2013 at 2:46 AM

      keshi be careful why so insultive

  4. Gbenga

    October 2, 2013 at 9:04 AM

    Keshi is right now abi is Tom preferred to be called a black man?

  5. Gistyinka Blog

    October 2, 2013 at 10:23 AM

    Thank god for super Eagles

  6. joy uche

    October 2, 2013 at 10:24 AM

    but is he a black?? is he not a white dude?? abi??

  7. Redfox

    October 2, 2013 at 12:30 PM

    Let me make it worse….

    THAT PINK DUDE, HE IS NOT FROM AFRICA, HE IS FROM BELGIUM

    Says I

  8. sam

    October 2, 2013 at 2:38 PM

    Keshi be careful of what comes out from your mouth

  9. iron bar

    October 2, 2013 at 2:57 PM

    Dude is an American English slang term[1] for an individual. It typically applies to males, although the word can encompass all genders.

    Dude is an old term, recognized by multiple generations although potentially with slightly different meanings.[2] From the 1870s to the 1960s, dude primarily meant a person who dressed in an extremely fashion-forward manner (a dandy) or a citified person who was visiting a rural location but stuck out (a city slicker). In the 1960s, dude evolved to mean companion, a meaning that slipped into mainstream American slang in the 1970s. Current slang retains at least some use of all three of these common meanings.
    just to tell that ignorance is a disease.fifa officials should get back to class

  10. bezo

    October 2, 2013 at 5:59 PM

    Stupid keshi that look like a monkey calling someone all sort of names, fifa is not fair they are just partial, if not Keshi suppose to be handed 20 games ban for saying this nonsense

    • joel

      October 3, 2013 at 10:24 AM

      @ bezo, pls do not be so sectional. Be more constructive in ur comments

  11. Victor

    October 3, 2013 at 4:39 AM

    Bezo u are vry stupid too. Hw do u look lyk? instead of u 2 b hapi 4 d man, u are enemy of progress, u are an ape.

  12. PRESCOLT

    October 3, 2013 at 7:01 AM

    Hm, Tom how do it always be in ya guys’ mouth when ya call us #black-monkey? Calling ya #a-white-dude is not an offence. Ya whites do call yaaself that. So why are ya angry? Fifa just wanted to use this avenue to remind the public that her #sanction-committee is still functional otherwise the truth, they know. That shows Keshi is educated.

  13. Desaia

    October 3, 2013 at 8:50 AM

    bezo ur a foool @ 40

  14. Udeme

    October 3, 2013 at 10:17 AM

    Bezo go back to school or better still visit your dictionary before disclosing ur uneducated brain here.

  15. D Hunter

    October 3, 2013 at 10:50 AM

    2 me, if all Keshi‘s crime was dat he called Mr. Saintfiet a WHITE DUDE den i dnt tink he (Keshi) has any question 2 ans. Mr. Saintfiet has nt rily said wat annoyed him abt Keshi. And as 4 u Bezo, wat‘s wrong wit u? Wat‘s ur prblm? Y r u alwys negative? Well, i dnt rily mean 2 be insultive bt perhaps u dnt knw u‘r a personal non-grata on naijagists

    I blv many ppl dnt fancy ur comments on naijagist, u knw y? Bc d comments u makes doesn‘t profer any solution instead it alwys heighten it. Pls try n hv a change of mindset

  16. Favorola

    October 3, 2013 at 4:42 PM

    U people should live bezo alone,he’s looking 4 cheap popularity.

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