Blatter, Platini appeal decisions due next week

FIFA's appeals committee will announce its decisions regarding disgraced pair Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini at the beginning of next week, several sources claimed on Wednesday.

Suspended FIFA president Blatter and his UEFA counterpart Platini, likewise banned for eight years for ethics violations, had the appeals against their sanctions heard earlier this week.

Blatter, 79, argued his case on Tuesday at FIFA's headquarters in Zurich, while Platini, 60, also a FIFA vice-president before his ban, was heard the day before.

The pair were found to have abused their positions over a mysterious 2 million Swiss franc ($2 million, 1.8 million euros) payment made in 2011.

Both men have argued that the funds paid by Blatter to Platini were part of a legitimate oral contract for consulting work done by the latter a decade earlier, but FIFA's ethics judges dismissed that explanation.

The notorious 2011 payment is also part of a criminal probe by Swiss prosecutors targeting Blatter, in which Platini has been questioned in a capacity that falls between a witness and an accused person.

Having been given provisional 90-day suspensions in October, they were both banned definitively on December 21.

Blatter, who turns 80 next month, had already announced he would be stepping down as FIFA president -- the election to name his replacement takes place on February 26 -- just days after his re-election for a fifth term in late May.

Platini had been the front-runner to succeed Blatter but pulled out of the race after his ban was announced.

Should either be unsuccessful in their appeals, they could take their cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Source :AFP