RED CARDS OUT FOR SEPP BLATTER & MICHEL PLATINI AS FIFA BANS THEM FOR 8 YEARS

PLATINI AND BLATTER

The torrent of troubles for FIFA President Sepp Blatter and UEFA head Michel Platini continues unabated as the two received a ban from football activities for the next eight years handed out by the Ethics Committee of the international football governing body. The both were fined $80,000 and $40,000 respectively for a breach in an alleged $2 million “disloyal payment” made to Platini in 2011 for his service as technical adviser to Blatter in 1998 to 2002, which was viewed as an “abusive execution” of FIFA’s position.

The two deny the allegation with Blatter stating that he had been turned into “a punching ball” and promising that he would fight back. Blatter’s spokesman says he is prepared to take the case before the Court of Arbitration in a fight for himself and FIFA, with a similar action expected from Platini.

Fifa’s ban brings to a nasty end the reign of Blatter as head of the body even before his planned exit in February, 2016. He has been the head of the body since 1998 and had actually been re-elected in May 2015 for a fifth term before the bubble burst.

This decision also raises the red flag for Platini, a former France international who has headed the European soccer body UEFA since 2002, on his planned takeover from Blatter as head of FIFA, in the 2016 election that was tipped to be an easy win for him, after an initial hesitation on his part to enter for the race.

Reactions from people in the know, however, go with the decision of the Ethics committee; they say the alleged verbal agreement between the duo was not part of Platini’s written contract, smacked of conflict of interest and lacked credibility. The Ethics committee, however, said it did not establish any evidence that the payment was a bribe.

Many other FIFA officials have been indicted in cases of bribery, illegal sale of television rights for matches, even the illegal sale of event hosting rights, an example currently is the committee’s ongoing probe of the granting of the award of the World Cup finals for 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar.