ZURICH: An ethics tribunal of scandal-plagued FIFA on Monday banned Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini for eight years saying they had abused their positions over a 2 million Swiss francs payment made to Platini.
The sentence against the two most powerful men in football stunningly highlighted the troubles faced by the world’s most popular sport where billions of dollars have been invested in recent years.
Blatter, 79, and Platini, 60, were “immediately” banned from all football activity. Blatter’s career is now almost certainly over while Platini’s hopes of taking over FIFA are all but finished.
Blatter, FIFA’s president since 1998, was fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($50,000/46,300 euros). Platini, the head of UEFA, Europe’s governing body and a FIFA vice president, was fined 80,000 Swiss francs.
A statement by the court said both showed “abusive execution” of their powers. – Agencies
Blatter and Platini banned by FIFA for eight years
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