NYON, Switzerland— A Ukrainian referee has lost his appeal of a lifetime soccer ban for helping to fix games.

The appeals panel for European soccer's govering body ruled Tuesday that Oleh Orekhov had been "in breach of the principles of loyalty and integrity." UEFA has not said which games were fixed.

UEFA banned the 42-year-old official in March, using information from a German police investigation into more than 200 suspicious games played in at least 11 countries.

Orekhov was rated among the 100 best referees in Europe and took charge of two qualifying games for the 2010 World Cup.