Romario to run for CBF presidency on anti-graft ticket

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil football great Romario said Tuesday that he plans to run for president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) following the suspension of Marco Polo Del Nero.

Del Nero, who has headed the CBF since April 2014, was given a provisional 90-day ban last week pending the outcome of a FIFA corruption probe.

Romario, now a Brazilian senator, called for changes to CBF statutes to allow the election of candidates that have no prior links to the organization.

"No one else has fought so vigorously against [corruption in Brazilian football] so the answer is yes, I can be a candidate," the former Barcelona striker, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 1994, wrote in a social media post.

"I have all the prerequisites for this. All my contributions to football, both on and off the field, are my credentials. But the way the statutes are today, no one outside the structure can be a candidate. There is no democracy at the CBF. The corrupt ones protect themselves."

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.

FIFA said Del Nero's suspension could be extended for another 45 days while its ethic committee investigates the 76-year-old.

Brazilian football has long been tainted by allegations of graft, with former CBF presidents Ricardo Teixeira and Joao Havelange having also been accused of accepting bribes and kickbacks during their tenures.