‘Indignant against FIFA’ is suing the organization for $1.3 billion, claiming “negligence and fault” in the arbitration of the game that eliminated Colombia from the 2014 World Cup semifinals, local media reports.
On behalf of a group calling themselves ‘Indignant against FIFA,’ lawyer and journalist Aurelio Jimenez Callejas filed a lawsuit in Cali demanding $1.3 billion in damages. The lawsuit is directed against FIFA, Spanish referee Velasco Carballo, and President of the Colombian Football Federation, Luis Bedoya, El Tiempo reported Monday.
On July 4, Carballo nullified a goal by Mario Yepes in the second quarter of the Colombia-Brazil match, calling it an offside, to the anguish and disbelief of Colombian soccer fans everywhere. Brazil went on to win 2-1, eliminating Colombia from the World Cup semi-finals.
According to El Universal, the lawsuit claims “clear negligence in arbitration in general, and in particular the willful misconduct of the referee Velasco Carvalho in the Brazil-Colombia match, and the subsequent approval of that disastrous arbitration by [FIFA president] Joseph Blatter. ”
The complaint states that the referee is guilty of both nullifying a legitimate goal by Mario Yepes, and of awarding an “unjustified” yellow card to James Rodriguez.
The document goes on to accuse Luis Bedoya of keeping a “conspiracy of silence,” including him as a “passive defendant” in the case.
According to Jimenez, among those who criticized the arbitration and would support his claim are Brazil’s Pele, Argentine soccer legend Diego Armando Maradona, former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, President Juan Manuel Santos, and Colombian cyclist Mariana Pajon.
Jimenez is calling Mario Alberto Yepes, James Rodriguez, David Ospina, and Pele as witnesses in the trial, which will also include video as documentary evidence of the Colombia-Brazil match.
According to El Universal, the suit accuses FIFA of becoming “a business entity that functions as a dictatorship,” and asks that people “start thinking about forming a different sort of organization.”
Sources
- Abogado demanda a la Fifa porque era gol de Yepes (El Tiempo)
- “Era gol de Yepes”, afirma abogado colombiano que demandó a la FIFA (El Univeral)