Blatter begins his ban appeal

SEPP BLATTER returned to FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich yesterday to appeal against his eight- year suspension from all football- related activity.

The former FIFA president was attending his appeal hearing after being handed the ban in December when he was found guilty of a £ 1.3million “disloyal payment” to UEFA president Michel Platini in 2011.

Platini, who was also served with an eight- year ban for his role in the payment, made his case against his suspension at a hearing on Monday.

Platini, 60, said he had nothing to hide and was fi ghting not for his future but “against injustice”.

The FIFA appeals committee, chaired by Bermuda Football Association Larry Mussenden, has the power to overturn the bans.

If Blatter and Platini fail to have their sanctions overturned, it is likely they would take their fi ght to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

As well as being banned, Blatter was fi ned £ 33,700 and Platini £ 54,000 by FIFA’s ethics committee after being found guilty of ethics code breaches.

The ethics committee has confi rmed that it is appealing against the sanctions imposed on the pair on the grounds that they are too lenient.

The proven charges included offering and accepting gifts, confl ict of interest and violating their fi duciary duty to FIFA.

Both Blatter and Platini said the payment was made following a verbal agreement when the latter worked for the former from 1998 to 2002, though it was not paid until nine years later.

That explanation was rejected as “not convincing” by the ethics committee, though it did add that the evidence had not been suffi cient to secure charges of corruption.