Samson Siasia has had a life ban reduced ©Getty Images

Former Nigeria football coach Samson Siasia has had a life ban from the sport reduced to a five-year sanction by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Siasia, who coached Nigeria at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, was banned for life by FIFA in 2019.

He was sanctioned by world football's governing body as part of a long-term investigation into match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal.

FIFA found Siasia guilty of "having accepted that he would receive bribes in relation to the manipulation of matches in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics".

It was claimed that Siasia would have had to always field several players under the control of the match fixer.

Negotiations in relation to the conditions of employment were reportedly conducted by email over a period of two months.

The negotiations ended when the club did not accept or could not afford Mr Siasia’s requests.

The CAS has reduced Siasia’s sanction to five years, with a fine of CHF 50,000 (£39,000/$54,000/€45,000) also set aside.

Samson Siasia will no longer have to pay a fine CHF50,000 ©Getty Images
Samson Siasia will no longer have to pay a fine CHF50,000 ©Getty Images

"The panel determined the imposition of a life ban to be disproportionate for a first offence which was committed passively and which had not had an adverse or immediate effect on football stakeholders, and that a five-year ban would still achieve the envisaged aim of punishing the infringement committed by Mr Siasia," a CAS statement read.

"The panel acknowledged the need for sanctions to be sufficiently high enough to eradicate bribery and especially match-fixing in football.

"However, the panel considered in the particular circumstances of this matter that it would be inappropriate and excessive to impose a financial sanction in addition to the five-year ban, since the ban sanction already incorporated a financial punishment in eliminating football as a source of revenue for Mr Siasia, and considering that Mr Siasia had not obtained any gain or pecuniary benefit from his unethical behaviour."

The five-year sanction runs from August 16 in 2019.

Siasia is a former Nigeria international, scoring 16 goals in 50 appearances.

He was a member of the team which won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations.

He later coached the Nigerian team from 2010 to 2011 and for a further spell in 2016, where he also led the under-23 team.

Nigeria won the bronze medal in the Olympic football tournament at Rio 2016 following a 3-2 victory over Honduras.