MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In October, the FIFA Ethics Committee temporarily suspended FIFA President Joseph Blatter and Platini for a period of 90 days during investigations into the corruption scandal.
Subsequently, the FIFA Appeal Committee dismissed complaints by Blatter and Platini, after which both announced intentions to apply to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS). In November, Platini officially filed an appeal to the court. On Friday, CAS backed the ban against Platini.
"Platini will undoubtedly be suspended for a few years… As for Blatter, there is no big difference for him between dismissal for several years and a lifetime ban," Bantel was quoted by the French sports daily L'Equipe as saying on Friday.
In May, the US Justice Department charged nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives for allegedly receiving some $150 billion in bribes. The same month, Switzerland opened an investigation into the FIFA bidding process for the World Cup championships in 2018 and 2022.
In late September, the Swiss Office of the Attorney General launched a probe into corruption claims against Blatter over making a "disloyal payment" of $2.05 million to Platini in 2011 at the expense of FIFA, for work allegedly performed in 1999-2002.
