Fifa Reduces Blatter And Platini Bans

25 Feb 2016 | tshego

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FIFA’s appeal committee has reduced the bans of outgoing president Sepp Blatter and suspended UEFA boss Michel Platini from all football-related activity.

The governing body dismissed the pairs appeals, but had their suspensions from football reduced from eight to six years.

FIFA’s ethics committee found Blatter and Platini guilty of breaches around a £1.3m “disloyal payment” to the UEFA boss in 2011 and were subsequently banned from football last year.

Blatter said in a statement through his spokesman: “I am very disappointed by the appeal committee of FIFA and I will take it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.”

Platini also released a statement through his legal team saying: “The reasons given against me are baseless, trumped up and surreal, given the facts and explanations that I gave during the hearing of the appeals board. This decision is in reality a political decision taken by the FIFA administration.

“The Appeal Committee considered that Mr. Platini’s and Mr. Blatter’s activities and the services they had rendered to FIFA, UEFA and football in general over the years should deserve appropriate recognition as a mitigating factor,” FIFA said regarding the reduction of the bans.

Both were fined by the ethics judges in December. Blatter was ordered to pay £36,000, and Platini was fined £58,000.

Platini had been tipped as a future leader of football’s world governing body, with the election for Blatter’s replacement taking place on Friday (26th February).