Football’s world governing body, Fifa, has banned Zambia’s former African Footballer of the Year, Kalusha Bwalya, for two years.
Its decision follows an investigation into his links to banned Qatari official Mohammed Bin Hammam.
It found that Bwalya had accepted a gift violating Fifa’s code of ethics.
In a statement Bwalya said that he is “not guilty of any offence” and vowed to fight “tooth and nail” to clear his name.
“I have never done and will never do anything to bring the beautiful game into disrepute,” he added.
This is my official statement. pic.twitter.com/PRBgpXqpRy
— Kalusha Bwalya (@KalushaPBwalya) August 10, 2018
Fifa’s ethics committee said the ban was from “all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level”.
Bwalya, a former president of the Football Association of Zambia, is a Confederation of African Football (Caf) executive committee member.
Culled from BBC Sport