Jerome Valcke hit with 12-year ban by FIFA ethics committee

Former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has been banned from football activity for 12 years for a number of offences, including his part in a World Cup tickets scandal and using a private jet for personal reasons.

FIFA's ethics committee confirmed the ban today and fined the Frenchman 100,000 Swiss francs (£71,000).

A statement read: "Among other things, the adjudicatory chamber found that a sports marketing firm had gained an undue advantage from the selling of FIFA World Cup tickets.

"In this respect, not only did Mr Valcke do nothing to stop these activities, he even encouraged the persons responsible to do so."

The statement added that Valcke had "travelled at FIFA's expense purely for sightseeing reasons" and by doing so had "acted against FIFA's best interests and caused considerable financial damage to FIFA".

The ethics committee also said that Valcke negotiated to sell World Cup television rights for below their true value.