Zurich , December 21 : Banned FIFA leader Sepp Blatter will appeal against his eight-year ban by the world soccer body’s ethics committee imposed on Monday, he told reporters. “I will fight for me and I will fight for FIFA,” Blatter said, adding he would take his objections to FIFA’s appeals body, go before the Lausanne-based sports arbitration panel, or take legal action under Swiss law if needed.
The banned FIFA president said that the Ethics Committee has no right to go against the president of governing body of the sport. Suspended FIFA President Blatter and European soccer boss Michel Platini were both banned for eight years on Monday by FIFA’s Ethics Committee.
The pair, who have also been fined, had been suspended for 90 days in October while an investigation was carried out into a 2 million Swiss franc ($2.02 million) payment by FIFA to Platini in 2011. Both men have denied any wrongdoing.
The decision, which comes as a corruption scandal swirls around FIFA, means that Blatter’s 17 years at the helm of world soccer will end in disgrace, and spells the end of Platini’s hopes of replacing the 79-year-old Swiss in a presidential election in February.
Platini, a former France international who was one of the finest players of his generation and had led the European soccer body UEFA since 2002, had been the favourite to win that election until he was suspended.