A timeline of the corruption scandal involving former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed bin Hammam, who was banned from football for life by FIFA's ethics committee on Saturday.
December 2, 2010
- Qatar sensationally awarded the right to host the 2022 World Cup, controversially overcoming competition from Australia, the United States, South Korea and Japan.
Bin Hammam, a former chairman of the Qatar Football Association (QFA), plays a key role in pre-vote lobbying.
January 6, 2011
- Bin Hammam, then aged 61, wins a new four-year term as president of the AFC, the world's largest football confederation, after an uncontested election.
March 18, 2011
- Bin Hammam confirms that he will challenge his former ally Sepp Blatter in the FIFA presidential election in June.
March 28, 2011
- Bin Hammam accuses the 75-year-old Blatter of dragging FIFA down and says "people have been judging the entire organisation by the unpopularity of its president".
May 25, 2011
- FIFA announce that they are opening a corruption investigation into four officials, included Bin Hammam and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner.
Bin Hammam and Warner, 68, are accused of offering $40,000 cash gifts to national association representatives at a Caribbean football summit on May 10-11, in return for their votes in the presidential election.
Bin Hammam says he "completely denies" the charges and later calls them a "conspiracy".
The four people, including Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, are ordered to appear before FIFA's ethics committee in Zurich on May 29.
May 29, 2011
- Bin Hammam withdraws from the FIFA presidential election, hours before he is due to face the ethics committee.
Bin Hammam and Warner are provisionally suspended from all football activities by the committee, but Blatter is cleared over allegations that he knew about the payments made at the Caribbean meeting.
May 30, 2011
- Bin Hammam says he will appeal against his suspension.
June 1, 2011
- Blatter is elected unopposed for a fourth consecutive term as FIFA president.
June 20, 2011
- Warner resigns from all his positions in international football, prompting FIFA to drop their investigation into the claims against him.
"As a consequence of Mr Warner's resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained," says a FIFA statement.
July 6, 2011
- FIFA announce that the ethics committee hearing over the charges against Bin Hammam, Minguell and Sylvester will take place behind closed doors at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland on July 22 and 23.
July 7, 2011
- Bin Hammam says he is "hoping to receive a fair hearing -- one which will not be influenced by any political agenda or motivation".
July 22, 2011
- Bin Hammam decides not to attend the opening day of the ethics committee hearing, leaving his defence in the hands of his legal team.
In a blog post, he says he is expecting a "guilty verdict" but declares that "justice will eventually prevail, whether through the FIFA Ethics Committee, the Court of Arbitration for Sport or, if necessary, through other courts or legal proceedings in courts where we will be equal and no special privileges will be granted to either party."
July 23, 2011
- Bin Hammam is banned from all football-related activity for life at the close of the ethics committee hearing.
Source: AFP
