ZURICH: Mohammed Bin Hammam arrives in Zurich on Thursday desperate to save his career, as FIFA bid to draw a line beneath a corruption scandal that has blackened the image of the world’s biggest sport.
The 62-year-old stands accused of attempting to bribe Caribbean football officials to vote for him in the FIFA presidential election with cash gifts of $40,000 each, during a Caribbean Football Union (CFU) summit in May.
Prompted by reports that he will be banned from football for life, the former Asian Football Confederation ( AFC) president — suspended since May 29 — came out fighting on the eve of his arrival in Switzerland.
“With just a few days to go before my hearing, there can be no doubt that there has been a campaign waged within certain quarters to ensure that I am seen to be guilty and eliminated from football in the court of public opinion, even before my hearing has started,” he wrote on his blog on Wednesday. “Despite these clear attempts to besmirch my name in the public domain, I will not allow my own suspicions to dash my hopes or to make me think, as some would wish, that I will have to travel a long and hard road to clear my name of the stain of this politically motivated affair.
Angered by leaks to the media from FIFA officials, Bin Hammam sees himself as a scapegoat for the corruption rumours. Hammam finds himself squarely in FIFA’s firing line, but even if he does become the first high-profile victim of his former ally Blatter’s anti-corruption purge, he is unlikely to go quietly. (Agencies)