FIFA suspends Brazil football chief Del Nero

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian Football Confederation president Marco Polo del Nero has been given a provisional 90-day ban pending the outcome of a FIFA corruption probe.

The suspension starts with immediate effect and may be extended for another 45 days while FIFA's ethics committee investigates the 76-year-old.

"During this time, Mr Polo del Nero is banned from all football activities at both national and international level," the world football's governing body said in a statement on Friday.

Del Nero has been under pressure to stand down since being charged by US authorities with money laundering and racketeering in December 2015, a month after quitting his position on FIFA's executive committee.

He has not left Brazil since May that year, when he fled Zurich following the arrest of seven FIFA officials for alleged graft. Among those detained in the early morning hotel raid by Swiss police was his predecessor, Jose Maria Marin.

Former Brazil forward Romario, now a senator in his homeland, used Facebook to voice his support for the FIFA investigation.

"As many Brazilians that love soccer, my hope is that he is banned for good," he wrote on Facebook.

"Del Nero has already had his crimes exposed along with those of other crooks like Jose Maria Marin, who is in jail in the United States, and (former CBF president) Ricardo Teixeira who is still on the loose in Brazil. They all used CBF to get illegally rich." Enditem