Former Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke banned for 12 years

Jerome Valcke, Sepp Blatter's right hand man during his reign at world football's governing body Fifa, was banned for 12 years on Friday from all football related activities. 

Jerome Valcke's ban will start immediately. AFP/AFP/

His punishment follows a meeting of Fifa's ethics committee and comes after an inquiry led by the committee's chairman Cornel Borbély.

The 54-year-old Frenchman, who was also fined 91,000 euros, had denied any wrongdoing after he was implicated in illegal sales of tickets for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

He was also sanctioned for abusing expenses. "By travelling at Fifa’s expense purely for sightseeing reasons as well as repeatedly choosing private flights for his trips over commercial flights without any business rationale for doing so, Mr Valcke, gained an advantage for himself and relatives," a statement from the committee said.

"In doing so, Mr Valcke acted against Fifa's best interests and caused considerable financial damage to Fifa, while his private and personal interests detracted him from his ability to properly perform his duties as the secretary general of Fifa."

Valcke was also criticised for deliberately trying to obstruct the investigation against him by trying to delete files and information.

The ethics committee, which is headed by Hans Joachim Eckert, also found that he tried to sell the TV and media rights in the Caribbean for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups for far below their market value.