Fifa’s appeal committee has rejected appeals submitted by Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini against provisional 90-day bans.
Uefa president Platini and outgoing Fifa chief Blatter were provisionally suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee in October over a £1.3 million payment made to Platini, the UEFA president, in 2011 for work said to have been carried out more than nine years previously.
Blatter was accused of making a “disloyal payment” to Platini. Both have denied any wrongdoing.
The two men submitted appeals against the provisional suspension and, in the wake of them being rejected, are now expected to take their cases to the final court of appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
A Fifa statement confirmed that the appeal committee, chaired by Larry Mussenden, had “rejected in full the appeals lodged by Joseph S. Blatter and Michel Platini.”
The statement said the committee had “confirmed in their entirety the respective decisions (cf. art. 84 par. 2 of the Fifa Code of Ethics) concerning provisional measures taken by the adjudicatory chamber of the independent ethics committee.”
Fifa said: “Joseph S. Blatter: the FIFA Appeal Committee rejected the appeal in full and confirmed in its entirety the decision (cf. art. 84 par. 2 of the FIFA Code of Ethics) concerning provisional measures taken ex parte by the adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee on Oct. 7 2015.
“However, for the sake of clarity, the procedure of the adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee regarding the provisional measures is still ongoing, meaning that the adjudicatory chamber may still confirm, revoke or amend the provisional decision as stated in art. 84 par. 2 of the FIFA Code of Ethics.”
Blatter was discharged from hospital last week after what was described as a “small emotional breakdown”.
