Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas, president of the Congolese Football Federation, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday after a court found him guilty of money laundering, embezzlement and forgery.
The case against the former head of national football, elected in 2018, is understood to be on the misappropriation of roughly $1.3 million in FIFA funds.
As revealed by Yahoo Sports the money had been sent to the federation during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a global relief programme.
Nearly $500,000 of that was for the development of women’s football in the country. Investigators alleged that the funds were funnelled through a network of shell companies and used for personal and unauthorised purposes.
An eight-month investigation involved a detailed review of banking records, administrative documents and the federation’s internal financial procedures.
When the verdict was delivered in a Congolese court on Tuesday, Mayolas was not present. He is believed to have fled the country to avoid sentencing and was convicted in absentia.
According to the report, his wife and son, Lionel Mayolas, were also both handed life sentences for their roles in the scheme.
FECOFOOT’s secretary general, Badji Mombo Wantete and treasurer Raoul Kanda were each sentenced to five years, having been found guilty of manipulating financial records and helping misdirect the funds.
The verdict has left FECOFOOT in institutional freefall. With its president convicted and other senior administrators now behind bars, the federation’s executive committee is severely weakened ,and a major overhaul of its governance structure looks unavoidable.
FIFA once imposed a ban on the federation in February 2025 over separate third-party interference issues, and this latest development leaves Congolese football at one of the lowest points in its history.
