Fifa's Blatter calls for life bans for match-fixers

Sepp Blatter was visiting Harare on his way to the IOC meeting in Durban

Fifa president Sepp Blatter says that anyone found guilty of match-fixing in the scandal that has shaken Zimbabwean football will be given life bans.

National team players including captain Method Mwanjali told a Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) inquiry that they were paid to lose games on a tour of Asia in 2009.

Fifa anti-corruption officials will visit Zimbabwe soon to meet with Zifa officials and the police to conclude their enquiries into the case.

Blatter was speaking on a short visit to Harare as he travelled to Durban for an International Olympic Committee meeting.

"We cannot intervene at the first stage, we must let the jurisdictional organisation of the different states [take action] and when these people are condemned and found guilty then we will suspend them for life," he said.

"Then they will never come back to football - being officials or being players, they will be banned for life."

Testimonies given by players to the inquiry allege that Zifa officials worked together with Singaporean Wilson Raj Perumal to lose matches against Syria and Thailand.

A second inquiry looked at earlier tours made to Asia by Zimbabwe where they also lost to lower-ranked nations.