London: Less than two months after attempting to become the most powerful man in world soccer, Mohamed Bin Hammam was banned from the sport for life on Saturday, completing a spectacular fall from grace.
The 62-year-old Qatari, found guilty by Fifa’s ethics committee of attempting to bribe delegates in the Caribbean to vote for him in the Fifa presidential election, has been left with his reputation in tatters and a 29-year career as an administrator over.
Pending any appeals he may pursue, Bin Hammam has lost his place on Fifa’s executive committee after 15 years, been stripped of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) presidency and kissed goodbye to the lifetime privileges normally bestowed on Fifa’s elite after they have left office.
His ban means he cannot be involved with any club even at grassroots level, although no one could stop him buying a ticket at the gate and watching a match as a spectator.
Bin Hammam, though, is not just one of the crowd.
A multi-millionaire businessman who prospered in construction, real estate and drilling as Qatar’s economy boomed in the 1980s and 1990s, he rose from the ranks of his local Al Rayyan Sports Club in Doha to the Fifa executive in 14 years.
His position as the most powerful man in Asian soccer was reinforced in Doha as recently as January when he was re-elected unopposed as AFC president and, after mulling over the idea for several months, he launched his bid to depose Sepp Blatter as Fifa president and become the first Arab to rule world soccer.
It seemed like the time was right.
Not only did he have a fresh mandate to complete a third and final term as AFC president, but Fifa’s decision to award Qatar the right to host the 2022 World Cup finals gave him an air of confidence.
Having supported Blatter closely, with logistical and strategic help when the Swiss fought Lennart Johansson for the Fifa presidency in 1998 and Issa Hayatou in 2002, Bin Hammam knew full well the size of the task he was taking on.
However, he decided that, old friendship and support aside, the time had come to reform Fifa and he was the man to do it. In some ways, for such an astute, personable and shrewd man, his plans were somewhat vague.
Bin Hammam outlined proposals to expand the Fifa executive committee from 24 to possibly 40 members, declaring that he wanted the world governing body to “be more transparent”.
He demanded more respect for clubs and member associations, promised more honesty and wanted a greater share of Fifa’s cash reserves to be distributed to the football associations. He maintained that after 13 years Blatter had been in power too long and said he would restrict the presidential term to eight years.
However, as one Asian critic had told at the time: “Bin Hammam is no reformer and does not have a real programme on how to change Fifa and the way the organisation operates.
Anyone going into battle has supporters and opponents and clearly by mid-May, with the election just over three weeks away, Bin Hammam thought too many were still against him and he needed to make sure of more votes by paying for them with cash.
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