Former Asian soccer boss vows to fight on by takingcase to the CAS
ZURICH - Ousted Asian soccer chief Mohamed binHammam on Thursday lost his appeal against alifetime ban from the game, but insisted he will fight onto clear his name.
The Qatari was slapped with the ban in July after hewas found guilty of trying to buy votes in the FIFApresidential race by offering Caribbean soccerofficials $40,000 each.
He denied all the charges.
"Of course, today's outcome from the AppealCommittee was not unexpected or surprising. To befair to the Appeal Committee members though, as aconsequence of our experiences with the EthicsCommittee, we didn't make serious efforts to prove myinnocence this time around," bin Hammam, 62, wroteon his website.
"I can now see, at last, light at the end of the tunneland I am heading confidently towards it. My next stepis to go to CAS (the Court of Arbitration for Sport)where from now on, I will be equal to my rival."
Earlier on Thursday, world governing body FIFAconfirmed the appeal had been rejected.
"The FIFA Appeal Committee, under the chairmanshipof Francisco Acosta (Ecuador), has confirmed the decisions taken by the FIFA EthicsCommittee on July 23, 2011 regarding the ban on FIFA Executive Committee memberMohamed bin Hammam for a breach of the FIFA Code of Ethics," said a FIFA statement.
"The appeal made by Mohamed bin Hammam has been rejected and the decision of the FIFAEthics Committee confirmed. The sanction of being banned from taking part in any kind offootball-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) at national and international levelfor life has therefore been maintained."
Bin Hammam, the former head of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), described thecharges against him as "politically motivated".
His suspension by FIFA over the bribery accusations led to his withdrawal from the world soccerbody's leadership election, handing incumbent president Sepp Blatter a fourth consecutiveterm in office.
The controversy highlighted allegations of corruption in FIFA and sparked calls for reform of itsgovernance structure, which anti-graft watchdog Transparency International recently called"opaque".
The vote-buying accusations also raised questions over last year's controversial decision toaward Qatar the right to host the 2022 World Cup, beating Australia, the United States, SouthKorea and Japan.
Bin Hammam, a former chairman of the Qatar Football Association, had played a key role inpre-vote lobbying for his home country's bid.
His legal team is also planning to appeal to CAS over the right of FIFA to designate ZhangJilong as 'acting president' of the AFC.
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