Last updated 20:21, May 16 2018
EUGENIO SAVIO/AP
Saudi referee Fahad Al Mirdasi in action during the 2016 Olympic Games match between Germany and Fiji.
Saudi referee Fahad Al Mirdasi in action during the 2016 Olympic Games match between Germany and Fiji.
Saudi Arabia have banned a referee for life for a match-fixing attempt, weeks before he had been due to fly to Russia to officiate at the football World Cup.
Fahad Al Mirdasi had confessed to offering to fix Saturday's King's Cup final on behalf of the Al Ittihad club, the country's football federation (SAFF) said.
Reuters reported SAFF asked world governing body Fifa to impose a life global ban as well as removing him from the World Cup list.
The 32-year-old referee made the approach to Al Ittihad chief Hamad Al-Senaie, who immediately handed over the WhatsApp messages to SAFF officials, Reuters reported. They alerted the relevant government authorities.
Al Mirdasi was taken into police custody where he confessed to soliciting the corrupt payment, the statement from the SAFF ethics committee said.
He was replaced overseeing the King's Cup final by Mark Clattenburg, who was set to be selected for the World Cup before leaving England last year to take a job heading refereeing in Saudi Arabia.
Al Mirdasi was one of 36 referees chosen by Fifa to work the 64 games at the World Cup, which kicks off in Moscow on June 14.
He was selected for last year's Confederations Cup, which served as the World Cup warm-up tournament in Russia.
He oversaw the third-place game between Mexico and Portugal where two penalties were awarded, two players were sent off in extra time and Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio was also dismissed. Al Mirdasi was also a referee at the 2016 Rio Olympics.