Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) President Marco Polo Del Nero, charged with corruption by U.S. prosecutors, "stood his ground amid sometimes hostile questions in Congress on Wednesday, insisting he was not involved in the global scandal surrounding the sport," according to Andrew Downie of REUTERS. Del Nero said, "People can be indicted but they have the right to defend themselves and I am going to prove the American indictment is a big mistake. I have been unjustly accused." Del Nero's predecessor Jose Maria Marin is "in jail awaiting trial on similar charges and Ricardo Teixeira, another former president of the CBF from 1989 to 2012 and a former FIFA executive committee member, was also charged." Quizzed over "tax payments, flights and telephone calls that senators believe implicate him, Del Nero frequently said he did not remember." Del Nero told Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, "I would like to have as good a memory as you." Rodrigues replied, "I think yours is selective." Del Nero "faced some senators who were openly friendly and others who were harshly aggressive." Former Barcelona striker turned politician Romario "called him a liar and pointedly appealed for him to quit the country's football body" (REUTERS, 12/16).
