The Qatar Football Association (QFA) vice-president, barred from standing for one of the AFC’s positions on the FIFA Council on the eve of the organisation’s Congress in September, "did not cooperate" with an unnamed investigation into a third party.

He was found guilty of violating the duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting and general obligation to collaborate articles of the FIFA Code of Ethics by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee, led by Hans-Joachim Eckert.

As well as the one-year suspension from all footballing activity, Saoud Al-Mohannadi has been fined CHF20,000 (£16,000/$20,000/€18,600).

The Investigatory Chamber had initially called for the Qatari official, working as QFA general secretary when the country’s successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup was launched, to be banned for 30 months when proceedings were launched on September 6.

The exact reason for the probe into Al-Mohannadi has not been revealed but FIFA had previously confirmed it was not related to the he bid processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, won by Russia and Qatar respectively.

He had denied any wrongdoing.

The QFA vice-president seemingly retained the support of the AFC, whose members forced the postponement of the Congress in Goa in September in a show of unity against FIFA’s decision to exclude him from the race for a seat on the worldwide governing body’s ruling Council.

Al-Mohannadi was widely considered to be one of the favourites to secure a spot on the Council.

He has been prevented from running again by today’s FIFA ruling, however, as the AFC are set to elect their three representatives on February 28.

The Qatari will be unable to return to his duties until November of next year as a result of the decision of the Ethics Committee.

The QFA claimed in September that the charges against Al-Mohannadi were "without legitimate basis".

FIFA said in a statement: "Because Mr Al-Mohannadi did not cooperate with the investigatory chamber in the proceedings against a third party, the adjudicatory chamber found him guilty of violating art. 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting) and art. 42 (General obligation to collaborate) of the FIFA Code of Ethics (FCE).

"As a sanction, the adjudicatory chamber has banned Mr Al-Mohannadi for one year from all football related activities (administrative, sports or any other) on a national and international level and imposed a fine of CHF 20,000."

insidethegames has contacted the AFC for comment.