Sevilla President Jose Maria Del Nido Jailed for 7 Years, Guilty of Corruption

Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido has been sentenced to seven years in jail after being found guilty of corruption charges.

As reported by Yahoo! Eurosport, the punishment relates to his participation in a case of misappropriated funds involving the Marbella local council.

Here's the case details, via Mark Doyle of Goal.com:

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The charges related to the Rojiblancos supremo's previous stint as a lawyer for the municipality of Marbella between 1999 and 2003.

Along with former mayor Julian Munoz, Del Nido was accused of devising a scheme to divert money from the city's public accounts.

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The situation does not link directly to Sevilla, although the La Liga club are sure to feel the impact of unwanted publicity and the absence of their key figure.

Doyle reports that del Nido evaded a lengthier sentence after avoiding charges of fraud, a crime prosecutors could have met with up to 30 years in jail.

The 56-year-old will disassociate himself from Sevilla and is to drop his directorial position now that the severity of his sentence is known.

Unai Emery's team are currently eighth in the Spanish top flight, having won six of their 15 matches this campaign, and will be disappointed to have their name associated with del Nido's circumstances.

The Spanish club captured consecutive UEFA Cup victories in 2006 and 2007 with Del Nido behind the scenes but have struggled to make an impact in this year's La Liga after selling both Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo to Manchester City.

To round off del Nido's punishment, Yahoo! Eurosport also confirms he has been ordered to pay Marbella council €2.7 million in lost funds.