FIFA fires secretary general Jerome Valcke

PanARMENIAN.Net - World football's governing body FIFA has dismissed general secretary Jerome Valcke, BBC Sport reports.

The Frenchman, 55, was already banned from football for his alleged involvement in a scheme to profit from the sale of World Cup tickets.

He was suspended on September 17 after being accused of a series of breaches of FIFA's ethics code.

Appointed in 2007, the former right-hand man of FIFA president Sepp Blatter has denied any wrongdoing.

"The duties of the secretary general will continue to be assumed by the acting secretary general, Markus Kattner," read a FIFA statement, according to BBC.

FIFA's ethics committee said on January 7 that it had decided to open "formal adjudicatory proceedings" against Valcke after studying a report submitted by its investigatory chamber.

He has also been accused of being party to a potential $10m bribe paid to Jack Warner, the former head of the North and Central America football governing body Concacaf, in return for his vote and backing to South Africa's successful bid to host the 2010 World Cup.

FIFA's ethics committee has already recommended that Valcke should be banned from all footballing activities for nine years.

Blatter and vice-president Michel Platini were both suspended for eight years in December following a Fifa ethics investigation.