Mohamed bin Hammam still enjoyed plenty of support from fans at home in Qatar on Saturday, despite being banned for life from football by FIFA over bribery charges.
FIFA's ethics committee banned bin Hammam on Saturday at the same time as Qatar opened its 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign with a home match against Vietnam.
Fans at the air-conditioned Al Sadd Stadium said the former Qatar Football Association president fell victim to a political dispute with FIFA President Sepp Blatter, rather than any ethical lapse.
''Bin Hammam, he didn't do anything. He is clean,'' said Taha Al Muhaza, who works for Qatari professional club Al-Gharafa. ''Bin Hammam wanted to do something good for Asian football. Everyone says these things about him but where is the proof?''
Football officials in the region were silent, however, despite bin Hammam's contributions in promoting Qatar's winning 2022 World Cup bid and raising the profile of the desert nation.
Qatar Football Association President Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmad Al Thani refused to comment when asked by The Associated Press.
Officials from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain football associations also declined comment on the case.
Bahraini football leader Sheik Salman Al Khalifa is a likely contender to replace bin Hammam as president of the Asian Football Confederation. The two fought a bitter election duel in 2009 when the Qatari incumbent kept his FIFA executive committee seat representing Asia in a 23-21 poll.
Mohammed Awada, an Arabic journalist in Doha who has known bin Hammam for several years, said he expects bin Hammam to continue appealing the case all the way to the highest Swiss courts, with challenges available at FIFA's appeals body and then the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
''He is very good warrior and he will fight to clear his name,'' said Awada, who has waged a local press campaign of sorts in recent weeks against the corruption case.
''They will play with him for a year but when he arrives at the courts in Switzerland, he will get his rights,'' he said. ''Until now, there is no direct relationship with this case and bin Hammam. There is no evidence. No one has said bin Hammam gave money. Not anyone. Without evidence, how can we say he is guilty or not?''
On the evening that bin Hammam was beaten in Zurich, Qatar won 3-0 against Vietnam in the first leg of a World Cup preliminary round tie.
The return match is Thursday in Hanoi when Vietnam, like bin Hammam, has a chance to overturn defeat.
