CONMEBOL promotes female legal head Jimenez as interim CEO

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) – South American governing body CONMEBOL has appointed legal director Monserrat Jimenez as interim director general, increasing the influence of female officials as soccer recovers from corruption scandals.

She joins recently hired FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura as the most senior female administrators in the sport.

Jimenez, a lawyer from Paraguay, takes on extra duty to help steer CONMEBOL through turmoil and restructuring.

CONMEBOL’s past three presidents were indicted by the U.S. Justice Department last year in an ongoing investigation into wide-ranging corruption linked to broadcasting and tournament hosting rights worth more than $200 million spanning three decades.

FIFA withheld millions of dollars of funding from the Paraguay-based confederation and its 10 members amid the financial scandal.

Jimenez steps up to replace Gorka Villar, a Spanish lawyer who left CONMEBOL as director general last month, after previously succeeding him as legal director.

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