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Venezuela sponsor paid no money in 2015 - federation

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's football federation (FVF) said on Thursday that chief sponsor, cash-strapped state oil company PDVSA [PDVSA.UL], did not pay the organisation any money last year.

"In all of 2015 we didn't receive a single dollar from PDVSA," FVF president Laureano Gonzalez told a news conference in Caracas.

"We all know PDVSA is the state's cash cow and that right now it doesn't have liquidity," added Gonzalez who in May replaced Rafael Esquivel, arrested last year as part of U.S. and Swiss investigations into corruption at football's ruling body FIFA.

PDVSA, struggling amid low oil prices and Venezuela's brutal recession, did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment.

The company has backed Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado throughout his Formula One career with tens of millions of dollars.

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Media reports indicated earlier this month that PDVSA had missed scheduled payments to the team and Maldonado said he would not be participating in the 2016 season.

Venezuela's football team will face "different" conditions when they meet Peru and Chile in World Cup qualification games next month due to the funding shortfall, Gonzalez said without providing details.

(Reporting by Diego Ore; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Tony Jimenez)


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Source: Reuters


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