Platini appeals to FIFA against his 8-year ban

UEFA president Michel Platini has officially appealed to FIFA’s appeal committee against his eight-year ban from football, sources close to the former France international player confirmed today.

FIFA’s ethics tribunal on Saturday provided world football governing body president Sepp Blatter and vice-president Platini with the reasons for their decision to ban them for eight years, clearing the way for both to appeal the decision.

Platini’s lawyer Thibaud d’Ales said the UEFA president had received the reasons behind the ban, and they would “analyse them and launch an appeal on Monday”.

In December, the ethics tribunal banned Blatter and Platini for eight years, saying they had abused their positions over a $2 million payment made to Platini in 2011 for work carried out between 1999 and 2002.

Both have said there was an oral contract for the payment and insist this is legal under Swiss law and FIFA regulations.

This was rejected by the FIFA ethics court in their ruling. It said the payment had “no legal basis in the written agreement signed between” Blatter and Platini in August 1999.

Blatter, who has headed FIFA since 1998, confirmed on Sunday he also intends to appeal.

If FIFA’s appeals board upholds the decision, both can then appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, the highest tribunal in sports.

The ban has dealt a devastating blow to 60-year-old Platini’s hopes of taking over as head of FIFA in an election on February 26.

The UEFA president pulled out of the race last week, saying the ban has made it impossible for him to put together a campaign to take on the sport’s most powerful job.