The West Australian reports:

FIFA on Saturday banned bin Hammam for life from football for his role in a bribery scandal, making the Asian football president the most senior official convicted of corruption in the governing body’s 107-year history…

“The fact that he was a key figure in the bid could rub off on Qatar’s World Cup for sure,” said James Dorsey, a senior research fellow of the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer…

“The life ban is the last bit of negative publicity that Qatar needs as it prepares itself for the ambitious task of hosting the 2022 World Cup,” said an editorial in the Dubai-based newspaper The Gulf News.

For now at least, bin Hammam has every intention to fight FIFA and Blatter in order to stay in football and be part of his country’s decade-long effort to stage the World Cup.

“It’s clear that bin Hammam, who had a huge role in ensuring Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid, wants to be around when the football jamboree comes to his country,” said a Dubai-based sports daily Sport360.

“Expect him to move mountains, if not Blatter.”