Disgraced FIFA President Sepp Blatter and his UEFA counterpart Michel Platini "are next week set to launch appeals against their eight-year bans from football after receiving the written reasons for the rulings," according to Owen Gibson of London GUARDIAN.
The adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee said on Saturday that it "had fulfilled its promise of providing both men with the full written reasons for their ban by the middle of January."
Platini, the former UEFA president who was the "strong favorite" to succeed Blatter until "both became mired in a Swiss criminal investigation" over a £1.35M "disloyal payment," immediately confirmed he would appeal on Monday to FIFA’s appeals committee and Blatter is expected to follow suit.
While the appeals committee "is expected to uphold the ruling of the ethics committee, that stage is necessary before both men can appeal to the court of arbitration for sport for a final ruling" (GUARDIAN, 1/9). The AFP's Nina Larson wrote at the time of the verdict, which "heightened further the crisis rocking football's scandal-plagued world body," the court insisted there was "no legal basis" for the payment that Blatter authorized for Platini in '11.
The tribunal "did not provide further details Saturday of the reasoning behind its decision." At the time of the verdict, both men "angrily vowed to fight the bans, which started immediately."
The tribunal decision "promises to end 79-year-old Blatter’s four decades with FIFA in disgrace" (AFP, 1/9).
DEL NERO STANDS DOWN: The PA reported Marco Polo Del Nero "has temporarily stood down as president of the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) for a second time, just days after returning to his role."
Del Nero, who until November was a FIFA exec committee member, "was one of 16 officials charged last month in a second raid on the Baur Au Lac hotel in Zurich." He immediately took a leave of absence to "devote himself to his defence," according to a CBF statement at the time, with VP Marcus Vicente taking over as acting president (PA, 1/10).
