FIFA has banned Qatar's Mohamed bin Hammam from football for life after finding him guilty of trying to bribe Caribbean officials to elect him president of the sport's world governing body.

A FIFA ethics panel on Saturday ruled that bin Hammam conspired to pay the Caribbean officials $40,000 to support his bid earlier this year to unseat FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Bin Hammam eventually dropped his challenge and Blatter was elected to a fourth term as head of FIFA.

The 62-year-old bin Hammam had been on FIFA's executive committee for 15 years. His lawyer said bin Hammam rejected the allegations and would fight the ban through a legal challenge.

FIFA also suspended two Caribbean Football Union officials, Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, for a year, alleging that they distributed the bribes at a meeting in May in Trinidad.