Bin Hammam pulls out of Fifa presidency race

Qatar's Mohamed bin Hammam has dropped his attempt to take the presidency of Fifa from Sepp Blatter, just hours before facing the ethics committee of football's world governing body over bribery allegations.

Reuters

Bin Hammam, who launched his campaign on an anti-corruption, said on his blog that he was withdrawing for the sake of Fifa’s reputation.

"I made the decision to run for the Fifa presidency because I was and remain committed to change within Fifa," he wrote.

Saying that "recent events have left me hurt and disappointed”, he continued, “I cannot allow the name that I loved to be dragged more and more in the mud because of ompetition between two individuals.”

Bin Hammam, who is currently the head of the Asian Football Confederation, vowed to clear his name of the "baseless allegations" against him during his appearance before the committee.

During his campaign for the Fifa presidency, which was due to be decided on 1 June, he accused Blatter of corruption.

Bin Hammam, Fifa vice-president Jack Warner of Trinidad, and two other Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials face the ethics committee on Sunday over allegations of bribery.

They deny any wrongdoing and Warner has promised "a football tsunami" of revelations concerning Fifa in the coning days.

Bin Hammam, who dismissed the allegations against him as a "tawdry manoeuvre" to block his election campaign, called for the investigation be widened to include Blatter.

The committee summoned the Fifa chief to ask him about claims he knew about the alleged cash bribes at the centre of the probe into bin Hammam.

Britain’s Sunday Times on Sunday alleged that Qataries offered voters cash for projects in an attempt to host the 2022 World Cup