{"id":508662,"date":"2026-07-03T23:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T23:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/508662\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T23:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T23:34:13","slug":"fifa-world-cup-cape-verde-federation-breaks-silence-on-ryan-mendes-police-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/508662\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifa World Cup: Cape Verde federation breaks silence on Ryan Mendes police inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"

However, yesterday, on the eve of the team\u2019s Round-of-32 match against Argentina in the Fifa World Cup (10am today, NZT), Cape Verde federation president Mario Semedo finally addressed the situation.<\/p>\n

In an interview broadcast by Cape Verde national broadcaster RTC, Semedo said the situation was being approached with caution.<\/p>\n

\"CapeCape Verde football federation president Mario Semedo discusses the Ryan Mendes case on national broadcaster RTC.<\/p>\n

He also claimed that no official notification from the \u201cauthorities\u201d had been received by the federation.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing, absolutely nothing,\u201d he said when asked if he\u2019d received any notification from New Zealand authorities.<\/p>\n

The Herald asked police if the investigation was still active and if they had been in contact with the Cape Verde federation and Fifa. They confirmed only that the investigation was still active.<\/p>\n

Semedo added that there was an ongoing process of investigation and only after that closed would the federation take a proper position on the matter.<\/p>\n

Unrelated to the question of whether there had been communication between the federation and New Zealand police, the Brazilian legal firm acting on behalf of the complainant told the Herald it had sent:<\/p>\n

An extrajudicial notice to the federation detailing all aspects of the allegations. The notice also contained relevant documentation, along with a list of questions.An extrajudicial notice to Mendes and his representatives in May, detailing all aspects of the allegations. <\/p>\n

Semedo said the federation did not approve of any of the things Mendes had been accused of doing, which involved allegations of sexual assault.<\/p>\n

But he also added his belief that the process of justice needed to take its course.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustice has a basic principle, which is the presumption of innocence. There is a process, an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CapeCape Verde captain Ryan Mendes during his side’s World Cup clash against Saudi Arabia. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Fifa has not yet responded to the latest questions from the Herald about the alleged incident, which were sent earlier this week. Those questions included whether Fifa has started its own investigation and what communication and correspondence has occurred with the Cape Verde federation.<\/p>\n

However, Fifa issued the following statement last weekend concerning the reported incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifa takes any allegation of misconduct extremely seriously and has a clear process in place for anyone in football who wants to report an incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a general rule, please understand that the independent judicial bodies do not comment on allegations they may or may not have received, or whether or not investigations are underway into alleged cases. Any information they may like to share will be communicated at their discretion.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifa is in contact with the New Zealand authorities. Please understand we cannot comment further at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Herald asked New Zealand Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell whether NZF had had any further communication with Fifa, or any communication with the Cape Verde federation. The Herald also asked whether NZF had reached out to or been in contact with the complainant, given that she was essentially an NZF contractor for the period of the Fifa Series when she was working with the Cape Verde delegation.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Zealand Football CEO Andrew Pragnell. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Pragnell declined to comment, before NZF provided the following statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand this matter is under investigation with the New Zealand police and so we are unable to comment on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Semedo said the Cape Verde players, who were one of the biggest stories of the group phase after their surprise draws with Spain and Uruguay, remained focused on staying in the tournament. He suggested that the current situation might make them stronger and more united.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese situations happen a lot in the world of football. The players are focused and determined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Burgess<\/a> has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America\u2019s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Go all in to unlock every Fifa World Cup 2026 match with a TVNZ+ Event Pass<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"However, yesterday, on the eve of the team\u2019s Round-of-32 match against Argentina in the Fifa World Cup (10am…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[16347,1554,51,38501,13651,13381,10542,25293,36862,5213,6735,37601,296,1535,249956,111,139,69,90,6379,1523,675,34458,5128,11165,213,7187,59608,377],"class_list":["post-508662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-addressed","tag-alleged","tag-auckland","tag-breaks","tag-cape","tag-captain","tag-cup","tag-federation","tag-fifa","tag-football","tag-hotel","tag-inquiry","tag-into","tag-march","tag-mendes","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-ongoing","tag-over","tag-police","tag-rape","tag-ryan","tag-silence","tag-sports","tag-team","tag-verde","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}