The FIFA Appeal Committee has partially upheld the appeal lodged by Mr Kalusha Bwalya, the former President of the Football Association of Zambia and member of the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football, and reduced the sanction previously imposed by the adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee in its decision dated 12 April 2018.

After analysing and taking into consideration all the circumstances of the case, the FIFA Appeal Committee decided to reduce the duration of the ban from taking part in any football-related activity imposed on Mr Bwalya to the period already served at the time of the notification of the present decision.

As a consequence, the ban imposed on Mr Bwalya ended upon notification of the decision of the FIFA Appeal Committee. Furthermore, a fine of CHF 10,000 has been imposed on Mr Bwalya.

The decision of the FIFA Appeal Committee was notified to Mr Bwalya today, and came into force immediately.

Back in August, Fifa banned Bwalya – then a Confederation of African Football (Caf) executive committee member – for accepting a gift which violated Fifa’s code of ethics.

It followed an investigation into his links to banned Qatari official Mohammed Bin Hammam. 55-year-old Bwalya has always denied any wrongdoing.