Soccer bigs get booted

ZURICH — Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, two of the most powerful men in soccer, were handed 90day suspensions by the FIFA ethics committee on Thursday, essentially ending Blatter’s 17year reign as president of soccer’s world governing body and likely stunting Platini’s chances of replacing him.

Both Blatter and Platini, former allies who turned into rivals in the buildup to the most recent FIFA presidential election, have become embroiled in a Swiss criminal investigation.

Blatter has been labeled a suspect and questioned by authorities. Platini, president of the European federation UEFA, was said to be somewhere between a witness and a suspect in the case involving a FIFA payment to him in 2011 for work carried out at least nine years earlier.

Both maintain their innocence.

Another FIFA presidential hopeful, Chung Mongjoon, was suspended for six years in a separate case, and FIFA SecretaryGeneral Jerome Valcke was banned 90 days.

The suspensions can be extended by up to 45 days.

Issa Hayatou, head of the African soccer confederation, took over from Blatter as acting FIFA president.

Hayatou said he would not stand for president in the February election prompted by Blatter’s earlier decision to resign amid a bribery investigation of FIFA officials launched by the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn.