Samson Siasia, right, guided Nigeria to men's football bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympics ©Getty Images

Nigerian two-time Olympic medal-winning football coach Samson Siasia has lost an appeal to overturn a ban for match fixing at a court in New York City.

Siasia was initially banned for life by FIFA in 2019 as part of a long-term investigation into match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal.

The ban prevented him from using his United States Soccer Federation licence, although it was reduced to five years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in June 2021.

In August 2021 Siasia sued FIFA, claiming that evidence against him was "grossly insufficient" and violated his US Constitutional rights.

However, the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld the unsigned decision of a Manhattan trial judge to dismiss his lawsuit in October 2021.

Reuters reported that the Appeals Court took a 3-0 decision in favour in FIFA, finding that Siasia, a resident of Atlanta, did not show why a trial court in New York City had jurisdiction over his case and prove that football's global governing body was "essentially at home" in the American city.

Siasia's lawyer Nitor Egbarin said he would discuss with his client but it may be the "end of the road" for the case, while FIFA has said the coach's claims were meritless, according to Reuters.

Siasia had been banned under Swiss law, with FIFA based in Zürich.

Samson Siasia scored for Nigeria against Argentina at the 1994 FIFA World Cup ©Getty Images
Samson Siasia scored for Nigeria against Argentina at the 1994 FIFA World Cup ©Getty Images

During the initial FIFA probe, it was claimed that Siasia would have had to always field several players under the control of the match fixer if he took a job with an Australian club.

Negotiations in relation to the conditions of employment were reportedly conducted by email over a period of two months.

The negotiations ended when the club did not accept or could not afford Mr Siasia’s requests.

A CAS panel ruled that a life ban was "disproportionate for a first offence which was committed passively".

Siasia coached Nigeria's men's team at the Beijing 2008 and Rio 2016 Olympics, where they won silver and gold medals respectively.

He had two spells as Nigeria's men's national team manager from November 2010 to October 2011 and a brief stint in 2016.

As a player, Siasia was part of Nigeria's team for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the US, scoring in their 2-1 group stage defeat to Argentina.

He helped them to win the Africa Cup of Nations earlier that year.