Former Nigeria Coach Samson Siasia has told brila.net that he never met the notorious Match fixer Wilson Raj Perumal and maintains his innocence following the life ban by FIFA.
Siasia revealed the discussions with Perumal was over a job over in Australia, but the negotiations fell through after the sides couldn’t reach agreement on the Coach’s terms.
“I have never met him before in my life. I got an email about a job in Australia. The correspondence were all through emails. He talked about getting me a job as a Coach and he discussed the terms. That was all that happened,” Siasia confirmed.
“We didn’t come to an agreement because he said he couldn’t pay what I wanted as sign-on and salary, but he couldn’t meet with my terms, so he hired someone else.”
Perumal was banned for life by the world governing body and Siasia was also handed a life ban in August 2019.
The former Nigeria national team Coach has maintained his innocence and vowed to fight the ban he believes he got only because “FIFA couldn’t reach me via email to clear my name”.
“When FIFA started investigating him they found exchanges between me and the Man. They sent me messages to confirm my relationship with Perumal, unfortunately they couldn’t reach me and simply assumed I was in cahoots.
“I played in Australia and the thought of returning as a Coach there was interesting. I have never met this individual and when we communicated through email, he would sometimes use two different emails. But I was out of the job for six months and also wanted to get back, it was Australia and very few people actually know that I played there. I was excited about it.”
Siasia needs ₦36m to fight the case and has been appealing for funds with his appeal coming up on March 19 in Zurich.
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