By Andrew Warshaw
October 3 – Mohamed Bin Hammam’s latest attempt to regain both his pride and his standing in world football has failed after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected his bid to be reinstated as head of Asian football.
The 62-year-old Qatari is serving a lifetime ban for his role in the FIFA cash-for-votes scandal, in the process seeing his position as head of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) taken over by China’s Zhang Jilong.
Bin Hammam was attempting to block that decision on constitutional grounds, annulling the appointment of Zhang by the AFC’s executive committee, ahead of his separate and pivotal CAS hearing into the FIFA ban.
Bin Hammam ran against FIFA President Sepp Blatter but withdrew from the race three days before the vote after being accused of involvement in $40,000 (£25,000/€29,000) bribes being offered as a sweetener to Caribbean officials whose own cases will be heard later this month.
Less than six months earlier, Bin Hammam had been re-elected unopposed for a third and final term as AFC head.
No date has yet been fixed for his CAS appeal into being banned, the final move – within sporting channels at least – to prove his innocence after getting nowhere with FIFA’s Appeals Committee.
Having Zhang removed would have seriously strengthened Bin Hammam’s wider case and in a statement, the AFC said they welcomed the decision by CAS to keep Zhang in his job.
Since the decision of the FIFA Ethics Committee on 29 May to remove bin Hammam from all football activities worldwide – the most senior figure banned by the organisation in its 107-year history – Zhang has been carrying out the daily duties and responsibilities of AFC President.
“On September 30, 2011, the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] in Lausanne [Switzerland] rejected an appeal on provisional measures filed by Mohamed Bin Hammam on 19 August 2011 against the Asian Football Confederation,” an AFC statement read.
“The 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.”
“Hence, the 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.”
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