CAS reject Bin Hammam presidency bid
Reuters - Monday 03 October 2011, 06:53
Mohamed Bin Hammam has failed in his bid
to be reinstated as head of Asian football by the Court of
Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Asian Football Confederation
(AFC) said on Monday.
The 62-year-old Qatari is serving a lifetime ban from football after being accused by FIFA of bribery during his failed bid to
become the world governing body's president in May.
As the most senior AFC member, China's Zhang Jilong assumed
the roles of acting head and FIFA Executive Committee member
after the ban.
Bin Hammam was attempting to overturn that decision and be
reinstated to both roles in the interim ahead of his CAS hearing
into the FIFA ban and the AFC decision.
Bin Hammam had ran against FIFA President Sepp Blatter but
withdrew from the race on May 29 after being accused of handing
$40,000 bribes in brown envelopes as a sweetener to Caribbean
football officials to secure their vote.
Blatter was re-elected unopposed for a fourth term three
days later.
Bin Hammam, who was re-elected unopposed for a third and
final term as AFC head in January, has continually said he was
innocent and is taking his case to CAS after having his appeal
against the decision rejected by FIFA last month.
The Qatari has been heavily critical of FIFA since the
decision in May.
He has appeared to flout FIFA rules on the ban from all
football by using AFC headed paper and referred to himself as the
AFC president when making public a number of statements on his
blog.
The AFC said they welcomed the decision by CAS to reject the
appeal to have Zhang removed.
"AFC has strictly followed the AFC Statutes at all times in
relation to Mr Jilong's designation as AFC Acting President and
nomination to the FIFA Executive Committee," the statement read
on Monday.
"Hence, AFC welcomes the CAS decision on provisional
measures and is confident of its prospects of success at the CAS
hearing on the merits of the appeal."