President of Colombian FA resigns unexpectedly

BOGOTA (Reuters) – The president of the Colombian Football Federation resigned unexpectedly on Monday, saying he was stepping down for “personal reasons,” a statement from the federation said.

Luis Bedoya had ruled the federation since 2006 and was also one of the 11 members of Conmebol’s — the South American football federation’s — executive committee.

“Luis Bedoya Giraldo has submitted his irrevocable resignation for personal reasons as president and member of the executive committee of the Colombian Football Federation as of today,” the statement said.

His resignation comes two weeks after the federation’s accountant also resigned as South American football reels from the FIFA corruption scandal. Several top officials were arrested or implicated in the scandal.

The U.S. indictment that triggered the scandal alleged that top Conmebol members received millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for the 2013 Copa America contract.

Bedoya was not named in the indictment.

Colombia play Chile in Santiago on Thursday in a 2018 World Cup qualifier.

(Writing by Andrew Downie, editing by Pritha Sarkar)