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Afghanistan Moves to Arrest Soccer Chief on Sexual Abuse Charges

Stuart Franklin/FIFA, via Getty Images

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan officials issued an arrest warrant on Sunday for the powerful head of the nation’s soccer federation, Keramuddin Keram, on criminal charges accusing him of sexually abusing female soccer players, a day after FIFA barred him from the sport for life.

Mr. Keram would be the world’s most senior soccer official to be criminally charged with abusing female players. But it was not immediately clear if the Afghan police would be able to arrest Mr. Keram, a former warlord with many armed followers who previously refused to leave office even though the government had suspended him.