FIFA appeal committee overturns one-year Saoud Al Mohannadi ban

A FIFA appeal panel has lifted the one-year ban imposed on Qatar Football Association (QFA) vice-president Saoud Al Mohannadi by an independent ethics committee in November.

The ban was handed down by FIFA ethics chief Hans-Joachim Eckert after investigators had recommended a two-and-a-half year suspension for Al Mohannadi's failure to cooperate with an inquiry into an unnamed third party in breach of the code of ethics.

But in a hearing last week, the appeal committee of world football's governing body reversed that decision.

In a statement issued on Thursday, FIFA said: "The appeal committee considered that the evidence available was not sufficient to establish to the appropriate standard -- ie to the comfortable satisfaction of the members of the appeal committee -- that Mr Al Mohannadi had acted in violation of the FCE [code of ethics]."

Al Mohannadi, who became an Asian Football Confederation vice-president last year, was the QFA general secretary in 2010 when it won the vote to host the 2022 World Cup.

He had wanted to represent Qatar's interests on the new FIFA council as preparations for the tournament proceed.

His hopes of achieving that were derailed by the ethics committee hearing, and it is unclear whether his appeal victory has come too late to get him back on the ballot for the election of four AFC members to the council next month.

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