The Court of Arbitration for Sport says appeals by three football officials banned by FIFA in a World Cup bidding scandal will be heard no sooner than October. CAS says legal submissions have pushed back cases involving former FIFA executive committee members Amos Adamu, Amadou Diakite and Ahongalu Fusimalohi. FIFA's ethics committee banned all three, plus three other officials, last November after British newspaper The Sunday Times alleged vote-trading in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup contests. Their appeals to FIFA were heard in February before launching appeals at CAS. Adamu, a former Nigeria sports minister, is challenging a three-year ban for bribery. Diakite, from Mali, and Tonga's Fusimalohi got two-year bans. CAS will be scrutinizing FIFA's code of ethics for the first time when its appeal panels hear the cases. The same code was used by FIFA to ban Mohamed Bin Hammam from football for life last month, after the former presidential candidate was judged to have arranged bribes for voters in the Caribbean. Bin Hammam has pledged to challenge that verdict at FIFA's appeal committee and then CAS.
