FIFA's appeal committee "has upheld bans" on longtime President Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini for ethics violations but reduced them to six years from eight, according to Mike Collett of REUTERS. FIFA said in a statement,
"The Fifa Appeal Committee, chaired by Larry Mussenden (Bermuda), has partially confirmed the decisions taken by the adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee on 17 and 18 December 2015 regarding Joseph S. Blatter and Michel Platini respectively, whose bans have been reduced from eight to six years."
The committee said that the contribution of both men to football over the years "should have been taken into account as a mitigating factor, but applied them only in reducing the length of the ban."
The only remaining route of appeal for Blatter, who is 80 next month, and Platini, 60, "is with the Court of Arbitration for Sport" in Lausanne. Blatter and Platini were banned over a payment of 2M Swiss francs made to the Frenchman in '11 by FIFA "with Blatter's approval for work done a decade earlier" (REUTERS, 2/24). The BBC reported they "both deny any wrongdoing and have said they will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport." Blatter said, "I am very disappointed by the appeal committee of FIFA and I will take it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne."
Blatter and Platini said that the payment honored a verbal or gentleman's agreement made in '98 "for work carried out by the Frenchman when he was a technical advisor for Blatter" (BBC, 2/24). SKY SPORTS' Allan Valente wrote it means the pair are banned from "any football-related activity (administrative, sports or other) at national and international level for a period of six years" from Oct. 8, "which means Platini would be eligible to return in time for the Qatar 2022 World Cup he championed" (SKY SPORTS, 2/24).
