Blatter's Work for FIFA to Be Appreciated in Time - FIFA Pres. Candidate

The amount of work that former FIFA President Joseph Blatter put into the football association will be appreciated in the future, FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee banned Blatter and FIFA Vice President Michel Platini for eight years from any football-related activities in December, after Swiss authorities accused him of involvement in a multimillion-dollar corruption scandal.

"Mister Blatter has done a lot of things [for FIFA] in 40 years, he has changed the map of football, he has changed the way FIFA was functioning… And I think, [I'm] absolutely sure, that history will judge Mister Blatter much better than it is today," Champagne told R-Sport in an interview.

On January 12, it was reported that the investigatory chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee would appeal Blatter's eight-year suspension from football to seek a lifetime ban.

Switzerland launched a corruption probe into FIFA's management after the US Justice Department issued a warrant for nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives for allegedly receiving some $150 million in bribes. Although Blatter was not charged, he announced his resignation on June 2, four days after being elected for a fifth term as president of the footballing body.