Rafael Esquivel Melo (born 1946/1947) is a Venezuelan former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

administrator. He was a member of

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

executive committee and president of the

Venezuelan Football Federation The Venezuelan Football Federation ( or FVF) is the governing body of Association football, football in Venezuela. It was founded in 1925 and affiliated in 1952. It is a member of CONMEBOL as well as FIFA, and is in charge of the Venezuela nat ...

(FVF).

Career and arrest

Esquivel was president of the

from 1988 to 2015. Esquivel was arrested in May 2015 in

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to face

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charges in the United States. He was banned by

FIFA Ethics Committee The FIFA Ethics Committee is one of FIFA's three judicial bodies. It is organized in two chambers, the ''Investigatory Chamber'' and the ''Adjudicatory Chamber''. Its duties are regulated by several official documents, most importantly the ''FIFA ...

for life. In March 2016, Esquivel was extradited to the US and pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court. He was released from jail on a US$7 million bond.

In popular media

Chilean actor Gonzalo Robles portrayed Esquivel in the 2020

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original series '' El Presidente''.

References

1940s births Living people Venezuelan football managers FIFA officials Venezuelan people imprisoned abroad Year of birth missing (living people) {{Venezuela-business-bio-stub