Blatter and Platini close to six-year bans

FIFA president Sepp Blatter and his would-be successor Michel Platini could be banned from football for six years by Christmas.

The Mail on Sunday understand FIFA investigators are close to completing their inquiries over the undeclared £1.35million ‘disloyal payment’ made to Platini in 2011 for consultancy work carried out on Blatter’s behalf nine years earlier.

Blatter, 79, and UEFA president Platini, 60, are appealing against 90-day provisional bans, which can be extended by another 45 days. But FIFA ethics officials want to wrap up the case as soon as possible, handing over their file to German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert.

‘The 90-day decision was just a provisionary measure, a short, sharp shock if you like,’ said an ethics source. ‘We’re trying to reach a conclusion by Christmas, so we can have a clear situation before [the presidential election].’

The main case against Blatter and Platini, who had an oral contract, is one of conflict of interest. That was the same breach cited in the sevenyear ban meted out in July to Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the Chilean who headed the 2018 and 2022 World Cup inspection team, and to South Korea’s ex-FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon, who got six years last month. ‘This should give you an idea about how long a ban might be,’ said the source. ‘But it could be even longer.’