Ali Sabbagh ( ar, علي صباغ; born 30 June 1979) is a Lebanese former
football referee. He was a full international referee for
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
between 2008 and 2013, before being banned for life from refereeing due to fixing a match in return for sexual favours.
Career
Sabbagh refereed in the
2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, beginning with the match between
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
and
Timor-Leste
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
.
On 10 June 2013, the referee was sentenced to six months in jail by a
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
court, after pleading guilty to influencing two linesmen to help fix an
AFC Cup
The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...
match which took place on 3 April 2013.
He and the two linesmen "corruptly receiving gratification in the form of free sexual service", arranged by Singaporean businessman Eric Ding Si Yang.
The
Asian Football Confederation
The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...
(AFC) has also banned Sabbagh from refereeing and attending stadiums.
Honours
*
Lebanese Premier League Best Referee
The Al-Manar Football Festival () was an event organised by the Al-Manar television station between the 1996–97 and 2018–19 seasons in order to award players, managers, referees and teams who were considered to have performed the best over ...
:
2009–10
References
External links
*
*
1979 births
People from Aley District
Living people
Lebanese football referees
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