Zurich, Sept 15: FIFA has dismissed Mohamed bin Hammam's appeal against a life ban from football for allegedly offering bribes to presidential election voters.
FIFA says its three-man appeal panel met for seven hours before upholding a July ruling by its ethics committee to expel bin Hammam.
Bin Hammam has previously said he would challenge FIFA's verdicts at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The Qatari official must go through FIFA's internal appeals system before taking his case to international sport's highest court in Lausanne.
Bin Hammam, a 15-year veteran of FIFA's executive committee, denies arranging to bribe Caribbean voters in May to support his election challenge to FIFA President Sepp Blatter. He later dropped out of the race. AP
