FIFA Council member Wolfgang Niersbach to appeal 1-year ban

Wolfgang Niersbach, a member of FIFA's governing council, will appeal his one-year ban over Germany's 2006 World Cup bid.

Niersbach tells the German dpa news agency that "after consulting with my lawyers I am going to appeal."

FIFA's ethics committee found Niersbach guilty of failing to report findings about possible unethical conduct and conflicts of interest during the bidding process.

Niersbach, a vice president of the 2006 World Cup organizing committee in charge of media and marketing, described the punishment as "excessive."

He retained his elected positions on the top decision-making bodies at both FIFA and UEFA, despite resigning as German federation president in November.

He is the first member of the rebranded FIFA Council, which replaced the discredited executive committee in May, to be sanctioned by the ethics division.