http://www.itv.com/news/story/2015-12-21/fifa-bans-sepp-blatter-and-michel-platini-from-football-for-eight-years/

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini handed eight-year bans from all football-related activities

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini have been banned from all football-related activities around the world for eight years and fined almost £90,000 between them, Fifa has announced.

The pair abused their positions and ignored both the law and Fifa regulations, the footballing body's ethics committee ruled.

Blatter and Platini have been banned Credit: PA

The Independent Ethics Committee said the bans would come into force with immediate effect.

Outgoing Fifa president Blatter and Uefa president Platini had previously been suspended following allegations of corruption.

The investigations centred around a payment of two million Swiss Francs to Mr Platini in February 2011, which the committee said had "no legal basis" in the written agreement signed by the two men in 1999.

Mr Blatter had also not been able to prove any other legal basis for the payment, the committee added.

"His assertion of an oral agreement was determined as not convincing and was rejected by the chamber," it said.

Last updated Mon 21 Dec 2015

i.e. you are a lying little runt Blatt! You too Michel.

Gentlemen's agreements operated within a high profile world administrative body - fooey

I'm sure you will keep on lying and protesting your innocence to your graves - you might have done some good stuff for football, but personal corruption at such a level washes all good deeds down the drain.

wow. so in effect that should be a life ban for blatter then. given how much they embezzled the fine is a joke of course.

Merry Xmas to football!

Sepp's live on the telly now.

Sky Sports News.

Reading from a statement which presumably is complete bolleaux.

Oh dear, invoking Nelson Mandela!

Edited December 21, 201510 yr by Chicog

Rambling like a senile old goat.

They should wheel him out and get someone to mop up the drool.

his press conference is the usual shameless sepp. genuinely doesn't believe that he's done anything wrong.

Rambling like a senile old goat.

They should wheel him out and get someone to mop up the drool.

He's crazy as a bedbug. A demented old crook.

What are Platini's politics ? Maybe he can run on Marine Le Pen's ticket.

i.e. you are a lying little runt Blatt! You too Michel.

Gentlemen's agreements operated within a high profile world administrative body - fooey

I'm sure you will keep on lying and protesting your innocence to your graves - you might have done some good stuff for football, but personal corruption at such a level washes all good deeds down the drain.

They had a written agreement for work to be carried out for a much much smaller amount.

Some 10-12 years later Blatter paid Platini 2 Million Swiss Francs - just before he was up for re-election and facing a tough challenge. Platini decided to to run and to pledge UEFA support and votes for Blatter.

This 2 Million was never included in the original written agreement, never accounted for or any provision made in all those interim years. FIFA were in good financial position and could have paid had a real agreement been in place, contrary to what Blatter said.

I hope the Swiss authorities do prosecute. Although Platini, who boycotted the Ethics Committee meeting, will not be extradited as France does not extradite it's citizens.Hopefully UEFA will start looking closely at Patini's activities.

Apparently their ban doesn't extend to Old Trafford...

I thought this was a spoof at first!

'None of the above' wins fans' FIFA presidency vote Updated: Tuesday, 23 Feb 2016 08:53 | 0 Comments

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Gianni Infantino has got the vote of the Football Association of Ireland

An overwhelming majority of football supporters surveyed in a new poll have no confidence in FIFA or in any of the five candidates standing to be the world governing body's new president following a year of scandal.

Sixty-nine per cent of the 25,000 supporters who took part in a survey conducted by Transparency International and the Forza Football app said they had no confidence in the current governing body. When asked which of the candidates aiming to be elected as FIFA's new president on Friday was the best man to run FIFA, 60 per cent answered 'none of the above'.

FIFA's ad-hoc electoral committee declared Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Gianni Infantino, Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, Jerome Champagne and Tokyo Sexwale as eligible candidates for the election back in November following integrity checks conducted by the investigatory chamber of FIFA's ethics committee.

The survey, which included football fans from 28 different countries across the globe, also found that 43 per cent said their enjoyment of football had been affected by the corruption scandals which have beset FIFA in recent months.

The US Department of Justice is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into allegations that past and present FIFA officials were involved in racketeering, wire fraud and money-laundering conspiracies, while the Swiss authorities are investigating the awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 finals to Qatar.

Sepp Blatter resigned as president just days after his re-election last summer amid the corruption scandals and has since been banned from all football-related activity for eight years over a "disloyal payment" he signed off to Michel Platini in 2011.

Platini received the same sanction as Blatter in December, with both men awaiting the outcomes of their appeals to FIFA against the punishments.

Prior to the vote to elect a new president on Friday, the member associations at the extraordinary FIFA Congress on Friday will be asked to vote on a package of reforms which include term limits for the FIFA president and for members of the FIFA Council, which it is proposed would replace the current executive committee.

The reforms also make provision for all candidates for membership of the Council to be subject to eligibility checks, and that at least one of each confederation's seats on the Council to be reserved for a woman.
Deborah Unger, the manager of the Corruption In Sport initiative for Transparency International, told Press Association Sport: "If the Congress doesn't vote for these reforms then all bets are off.

"The reform proposals are almost a skeleton framework but there is a lot unsaid."

Asked why none of the candidates appeared to have popular support among football supporters, Unger added: "It's a sorry reflection of the candidates that fans don't feel they can trust them. The previous scandals have a lot do with that, and it didn't help that FIFA has not published the results of its integrity checks."

Unger believes it is vital that an independent oversight committee is established if FIFA is to regain people's trust.

"Sport has been allowed to bumble along without much oversight or scrutiny, and when you are talking about organisations dealing with in some cases billions of pounds that is essential," she said.