FIFA to hear Bin Hammam bribery appeal next week

ZURICH (AP) — FIFA says it will hear Mohamed bin Hammam’s appeal next Thursday against his lifetime ban from soccer for bribery.

Bin Hammam is challenging a July 23 ruling by FIFA’s ethics committee that he arranged to bribe Caribbean voters with $40,000 to back his election campaign against FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

The Qatari official has said he expects FIFA’s appeal panel to confirm his conviction.

However, he must go through all of FIFA’s legal processes before taking his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Bin Hammam ended his election bid days before the June vote.

FIFA then imposed a provisional suspension which removed him from its executive committee and as president of the Asian Football Confederation.