Friday 29 May 2015 07:34, UK
CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb has been 'provisionally dismissed' by the governing body for football in North and Central America.
Webb, who is president of the Cayman Islands Football Federation, was one of seven FIFA officials arrested on Wednesday in Zurich as part of an FBI probe into alleged corruption within the sport's world governing body.
Eduardo Li, an executive committee member and Costa Rica's football federation president, has also been 'provisionally dismissed' while CONCACAF's general secretary, Colombian-American sports executive Enrique Sanz, was placed on an immediate leave of absence.
CONCACAF has named executive committee vice-president Alfredo Hawit, head of the Honduras football federation, to take over Webb's duties as president.
Sanz's duties were assumed by his deputy, Ted Howard, who had served in the role before in 2012, when he replaced Chuck Blazer, who pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering in connection with the probe.
CONCACAF's executive committee named US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati, his Mexican counterpart Justino Compean and Canadian Soccer Association president Victor Montagliani to a special committee tasked with "evaluating and sustaining" CONCACAF business operations in the wake of the scandal.
"While we are profoundly disappointed by the allegations made by authorities that again, CONCACAF has been the victim of fraud, we remain committed to CONCACAF's goal to develop, promote and manage the game of soccer," the body's new president Hawit said.
"We have now taken the appropriate steps to maintain our operations and continue to deliver on our commitments to all of our constituents, including our fans, members, as well as commercial and broadcast partners.
"We also continue to cooperate with the ongoing investigation by governmental authorities, which have not placed any restrictions on our ongoing activities."
