Football agent Raiola has worldwide ban scrapped

Paris (AFP) – Football agent Mino Raiola, whose high-profile clients include Manchester United’s Paul Pogba, had his worldwide ban lifted by FIFA, echoing the action of the Italian Football Association (FIGC) a day earlier, the global governing body announced on Friday.

Raiola, 51, was suspended by the FIGC last April with FIFA’s disciplinary committee originally extending the sanctions to an international level in May.

“The chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee issued a procedural order today informing the intermediaries Carmine Raiola and Vincenzo Raiola that the worldwide extension of their suspensions had been annulled with immediate effect,” said a FIFA statement.

However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne on Wednesday paused the suspension on appeal, and it was overturned by the Federal Court of Appeal in Italy on Thursday.

Raiola and his cousin Vincenzo had been banned from transfer activity reportedly for their alleged poaching of former PSV Eindhoven youth player Gianluca Scamacca, now with Italian club Sassuolo, from his agents.

Raiola, who also represents LA Galaxy striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ajax captain Matthijs de Ligt, said the initial sanctions in Italy were “based on false grounds and lies”.