FIFA has imposed a worldwide lifetime ban on Lebanese referee Ali Sabbagh, who agreed to fix an April 2013 match in Singapore in exchange for sexual favours.
Sabbagh, 34, was originally jailed for six months and banned by the Asian Football Confederation from refereeing and attending stadiums after accepting sex as a bribe from a betting syndicate for rigging a match in April of last year.
FIFA also extended 10-year bans on Sabbagh’s assistants, Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb, to apply globally.
In other match-fixing cases, FIFA applied bans ranging from 14 to 25 years on Marián Dirnbach, Ivan Hodúr and Tomáš HuberIvan Hodur for their involvement in fixing top-flight league matches.
FIFA provisionally suspended English semi-professional players Hakeem Adelakun and Michael Boateng of Brighton-based Whitehawks FC, who have been charged by the UK National Crime Agency with the criminal offence of conspiracy to defraud facing criminal prosecution, and an unidentified El Salvador national team player.
