Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini have lost their appeals against 90-day bans for alleged financial wrongdoing, Soccernet reports.
The provisional bans prevent Blatter from working as FIFA president and stop UEFA president Platini from campaigning for the FIFA presidential election on February 26.
Platini and outgoing FIFA president Blatter were both provisionally suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee in October over a £1.3m payment made to Platini in 2011 for work said to have been carried out more than nine years previously.
Blatter was accused of making a “disloyal payment” to Platini, but both have denied any wrongdoing. They have acknowledged that there was no written contract for the extra salary, but say there was a verbal agreement.
Blatter’s lawyers said he was disappointed by the decision and insisted there was no evidence of an improper conduct over the payment.
A statement said, “Noticeably absent from the opinion and these proceedings is any evidence of any improper motivation or purpose for the agreement between FIFA and Platini.
“The appeal committee rendered this decision on Nov. 3 but released it only today, over two weeks later.
“President Blatter is committed to clearing his name and hopes this inexplicable delay is not an effort to deny him, during his elected term, a fair hearing before a neutral body.
“He will continue his appeals and looks forward to the opportunity to be heard, including through the presentation of evidence and argument of counsel, and thereby demonstrate he has engaged in no misconduct.”
After the decision, Platini said he would take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in Lausanne, Switzerland, French news agency AFP reported.
The CAS decision will determine whether there is any remaining hope for Platini’s bid to run for the FIFA presidency. Blatter could also choose to take his case to the CAS.
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