Blatter & Platini Banned for EIGHT Years

The Fifa and Uefa presidents have both been banned
with immediate effect from all football-related
activities for almost a decade by the Independent
Ethics Committee
Fifa president Sepp Blatter and his Uefa counterpart
Michel Platini have both been banned from all
football-related activity for eight years with
immediate effect, the Independent Ethics Committee
of world football's governing body has confirmed.

Both men were provisionally suspended in October
in relation to a payment of CHF 2,000,000
(£1.34m) from Fifa - and authorised by Blatter - to
Platini in February 2011.
Blatter and Platini claimed this related to work
carried out by the former France captain for Fifa
between 1999 and 2002, citing a "gentleman's
agreement".
However, in its ruling published on Monday, the
adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee said
that the payment had "no legal basis in the written
agreement signed between both officials on 25
August 1999".
Furthermore, Blatter's assertion of an oral
agreement was "determined as not convincing and
was rejected by the chamber".
The 79-year-old Swiss, who had already announced
his intention to stand down before February's FIFA
presidential elections, has been fined 50,000 Swiss
francs, with Platini fined 80,000 Swiss francs.