Julio Rocha, jailed former Nicaragua soccer boss, dies at 67

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - The head of the Nicaraguan Football Federation says his predecessor Julio Rocha, who was convicted in the United States in a corruption scandal at FIFA, has died. Rocha was 67.

Federation president Manuel Quintanilla says Rocha died on Saturday after an illness he had had "for several months."

Federation spokesman Moises Avalos tells Nueva Radio Ya the former official had cancer.

FILE - This April 14, 2011 file photo shows Nicaragua Soccer Federation President Julio Rocha, left, and FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, at the end of a ceremonial ribbon cutting for the National Soccer Stadium in Managua, Nicaragua. The head of the Nicaraguan Soccer Federation says his predecessor Julio Rocha, who was convicted in the United States in a corruption scandal at the sport's world governing body, FIFA, died on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018, after an illness he had had "for several months." Rocha was 67. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)

FILE - This April 14, 2011 file photo shows Nicaragua Soccer Federation President Julio Rocha, left, and FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, at the end of a ceremonial ribbon cutting for the National Soccer Stadium in Managua, Nicaragua. The head of the Nicaraguan Soccer Federation says his predecessor Julio Rocha, who was convicted in the United States in a corruption scandal at the sport's world governing body, FIFA, died on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018, after an illness he had had "for several months." Rocha was 67. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)

Rocha was president of the federation from 1987-2012, director of the Central American Soccer Union from 2003-07 and FIFA development director for CONCACAF in 2013-15.

In 2016, he pleaded guilty to taking $150,000 in bribes in exchange for facilitating commercial rights to tournaments and was jailed in the U.S. He was also suspended from soccer for life by FIFA.

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