FIFA has dished out life bans to the former presidents of the Guam, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan football associations for corruption, its ethics committee has announced.

An investigation into ex-Guam FA boss Richard Lai, a former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) official and Fifa committee member, was opened this April when he pleaded guilty to fraud in the United States.

Lai’s case is significant for two reasons — it is the first time the US-led investigation into football corruption has extended beyond the Americas and it implicates one of the most powerful men in sports, Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Ahmad al-Sabah.