FIFA requests lifetime ban of UEFA president Michel Platini
The FIFA ethics committee has requested a lifetime ban of UEFA president Michel Platini, the Associated Press reports.
Platini and FIFA president Sepp Blatter are currently serving 90-day bans, which were handed down on Oct. 8 as a result of an ongoing investigation by the ethics committee into alleged mismanagement of FIFA funds, centering around a $2 million payment Blatter made to Platini in 2011. Both men appealed the suspensions, but their appeals were denied last week.
Though Blatter and Platini have maintained that the $2 million was a legal repayment of Platini’s backdated salary, the ethics committee decided to ask for the maximum sanction when finalizing the case report on the matter, Platini’s lawyer Thibaut d’Ales told the Associated Press.
“The overreaching of the request really convinces us of this commission’s total lack of credibility,” D’Ales said. “There is not a single tangible element in this case that can confirm the suspicions.”
• Sepp Blatter says he nearly died while in hospital
Platini and Blatter will have formal hearings before a FIFA ethics judge in December. Any sanctions can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
- Erin Flynn
