ZURICH (AP) - The FIFA appeal committee says Saoud Al-Mohannadi of Qatar was wrongly barred as a FIFA Council election candidate last year.
FIFA says its appeal panel lifted a one-year ban imposed on Al-Mohannadi last November for failing to cooperate with a previous, unspecified ethics investigation.
His case emerged last September, days before Asian Football Confederation members were electing delegates to represent them on FIFA’s ruling committee. When Al-Mohannadi was blocked, the AFC postponed voting in protest.
The delayed Asian elections will now take place on May 8 in Manama, Bahrain, ahead of FIFA’s annual congress.
Still, Al-Mohannadi is not on the approved candidate list because he remained banned when the entry deadline passed in January.
FIFA appeal judges also lifted Al-Mohannadi’s $19,900 fine, ruling that “the evidence available was not sufficient.”
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