CONCACAF has been awarded $79 million in its lawsuit against Jack Warner ©CONCACAF

The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) has been awarded $79 million (£63 million/€70 million) by a New York judge after the body won its lawsuit against disgraced former President Jack Warner.

Judge William Kuntz granted the continental organisation significantly more than it was perhaps expecting in a default judgement.

CONCACAF had been set to recoup more than $20 million (£15 million/€17 million) from the lawsuit, launched against former FIFA vice-president Warner and the late Chuck Blazer, the organisation’s former secretary general, in April 2017.

It had been claimed CONCACAF had demanded no less than that figure and argued it was entitled to up to three times the amount.

The lawsuit said the pair had claimed millions of dollars in exchange for their votes for FIFA World Cup hosts.

It was also argued both Blazer and Warner, two officials at the heart of the widespread corruption scandal which brought FIFA to its knees, had received kickbacks over the award of broadcast rights for tournaments.

“There can be no doubt that Warner and Blazer victimised CONCACAF, stealing and defrauding it out of tens of millions of dollars in brazen acts of corruption for their own personal benefit at the expense of the entire CONCACAF region,” CONCACAF’s complaint read.

CONCACAF had reached a settlement with Blazer’s estate for $20 million (£15 million/€17 million) in April.

The disgraced American former FIFA Executive Committee member was a central figure in the corruption scandal in the governing body, having struck a plea deal in 2013 and turned whistle-blower for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Jack Warner did not appear in court for the verdict ©Getty Images
Jack Warner did not appear in court for the verdict ©Getty Images

He was key to several FIFA officials being arrested in Zurich in May 2015.

Blazer, who died aged 72 in July 2017, admitted accepting bribes in connection with the 1998 and 2010 World Cup bid processes, won by France and South Africa, respectively.

The case against Warner was separate to one filed by the United States Justice Department.

Warner could finally be extradited to the United States to face corruption charges after he lost an appeal in his native Trinidad and Tobago earlier this month.

Three Appeals Court judges dismissed Warner's judicial review against extradition to the US.

But the court stayed the ruling for 21 days pending an application by Warner for permission to argue his case at the Privy Council and he could still avoid extradition.

He has not left Trinidad and Tobago since he was named in the indictment in May 2015 and remains on $2.5 million (£2 million/€2.2 million) bail.