Asian football chief Mohamed bin Hammam, who was banned from the sport for life on charges of bribery on Saturday, told AFP that he will appeal against the sanction.
The Qatari has constantly protested his innocence and said he will fight to clear his name through the courts.
In a telephone conversation with AFP on Saturday evening, Bin Hammam explained that the first step consisted of making an appeal to world governing body FIFA, whose ethics committee handed down his punishment.
If that route does not yield a satisfactory outcome, he has previously declared that he is prepared to take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and, if necessary, the civil courts.
Bin Hammam also reacted to the decision on his blog by publishing a scanned copy of a personal letter sent to him by FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2008.
In the letter, which Blatter addressed to "My dear brother," Bin Hammam had highlighted a phrase in which the 75-year-old Swiss had written: "Without you, dear Mohamed, none of this would ever have been possible".
Below the letter were the words: "This is only the battle, not the war..."
Source: AFP
