Former FIFA General Secretary Jérôme Valcke Appealing 10-Year Football Ban

Former FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke "appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport" against his 10-year ban from football, according to John Revill of REUTERS. The Frenchman, whose job was to "ensure the smooth running of FIFA and in particular its flagship World Cup tournament," was "right-hand man" to now banned President Sepp Blatter before "both were embroiled in a corruption scandal" which swept football's governing body in '15. Valcke was "found guilty by FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert of misconduct over the sale of World Cup tickets, abuse of travel expenses, attempting to sell TV rights below their market value and destruction of evidence." In a separate development, former FIFA exec committee member Amos Adamu was banned for two years for ethics violations committed in '10 -- the "second time the Nigerian official has been suspended" (REUTERS, 2/28).