Football's governing body FIFA banned Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed bin Hammam from the sport for life on Saturday after he was found guilty of bribery.

After a two-day hearing, the body's ethics committee ruled that Hammam was guilty of trying to buy votes ahead of last month's FIFA presidential election.

"The official Mr Bin Hammam is hereby banned from taking part in any kind of football activity at national or international level for life," said Ethics Committee Deputy Chairman Petrus Damaseb at the FIFA headquarters.

The 62-year-old Qatari has said that he will appeal against the sanction, protesting his innocence.

"He will continue to fight his case through the legal routes that are open to him," his lawyer Eugene Gulland told reporters.

"He has gone on record and maintains FIFA was going to find against him, whatever the validity of the case he presented to them."

"FIFA's ethics committee has apparently based its decision on so-called circumstantial evidence which our case has clearly demonstrated was bogus and founded on lies told by senior FIFA officials," added Gulland.

The Qatari candidate stepped out of the running to be the next FIFA president in May. Swiss Sepp Blatter was re-elected as president three days later.

Author: Charlotte Chelsom-Pill (Reuters, AFP)
Editor: Spencer Kimball