AFC to elect new president by April

Ethics

But with his power in world soccer ratified by outsiders Qatar being granted the rights to host the 2022 World Cup, Bin Hammam pushed on with a bid to become president of world governing body FIFA in 2011, only to see it end with his career in tatters.

Hammam withdrew from the race and was then provisionally suspended, days before the June election over allegations that he had tried to buy the votes of Caribbean officials by handing them $40,000 each in brown envelopes at a meeting in Port of Spain.

Blatter was subsequently re-elected unopposed for a fourth term as FIFA president, while Bin Hammam was found guilty of breaking seven articles of FIFA's ethics code, including one on bribery.

Special coverage: FIFA rocked by bribery scandal

He was banned for life and subsequently lost an appeal at FIFA but was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who said the decision did not amount to an "affirmative finding of innocence".

But Bin Hammam was unable to return to work as the head of Asian soccer and a member of FIFA's all powerful executive committee as he was suspended by the AFC for alleged financial wrong-doing.

The AFC suspension ran out with no punishment handed down but again Bin Hammam was blocked from returning to the game as FIFA's ethics committee opened another probe. That resulted in a 90-day ban which was extended in October and continues to stand.

Although Bin Hammam had said previously he had no plans to return to the sport after his experiences, there had been reports he might reconsider that decision after the latest investigations followed the CAS verdict.

But the election of a new president will finally end a sorry chapter for Asian soccer, flourishing on the field with vast investment leading to impressive team performances and world class individual players, and allow the body to move on with reforms.