Last-ditch shot at appeal for Blatter
EX-FIFA HEAD: BIDS TO REVERSE SIX-YEAR FOOTBALL BAN Ethics violations at the heart of Sepp’s suspension from all things soccer.
Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter began his final appeal yesterday against his six-year ban from soccer in a quest for redemption after his career ended in scandal.
Blatter entered the world’s top sports court for a one-day hearing seeking to overturn a suspension imposed by Fifa over ethics violations.
“I will accept the verdict,” Blatter, 80, told journalists outside the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“I do hope it will be positive for me, but we are footballers. We learn to win, but also, we learn to lose.”
The case that triggered Blatter’s downfall first emerged in September, when Swiss prosecutors said they were investigating him over a suspect 2 million Swiss franc payment (R28 million) he authorised in 2011, to his one-time heir apparent, Michel Platini.
A former head of European football, Platini was also sanctioned by Fifa over the funds.
The Frenchman lost his CAS appeal in May in a verdict that likely diminishes Blatter’s hopes of victory.
Arguments are expected to last one day, but a decision may take several weeks.
Blatter pulled up to CAS in a black Mercedes sedan, flanked by his Zurich-based lawyer, Lorenz Erni.
Restating a justification for the infamous Platini payment, Blatter insisted Fifa had owed money to the ex-Juventus star.
Platini had been hired by Fifa as a consultant from 1999 to 2002, and had apparently not received his full compensation.
“I am sure, at the end ... that the panel will understand that the payment made to Platini was really a debt that we had [with him],” Blatter said yesterday.
“This is a principle: if you have debts, you pay them.”
Fifa’s ethics committee was not convinced by the explanation, banning both Blatter and Platini for eight years in December.
Those suspensions were, however, cut to six years on appeal in February.
But CAS judged Fifa’s sanctions against Platini as “too severe” and trimmed his suspension to four years.
That outcome would likely offer little comfort to the ageing Blatter, whose four-decade career as a football broker seemed likely over.
Separate from yesterday’s appeal, Blatter is also the target of a criminal investigation by Swiss prosecutors over the Platini payment and alleged mismanagement during his 17-year tenure as Fifa president.
He was replaced in that job by fellow Swiss national and former Uefa number two, Gianni Infantino, in February. –AFP
I am sure, at the end the panel will understand the payment made to Platini was really a debt. Sepp Blatter Former Fifa president