Blatter lodges CAS appeal against football ban

Sepp Blatter was succeeded by former UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino as FIFA president at last month's elections, following a tenure spanning more than 17 years.

Published : Mar 17, 2016 23:40 IST , Zurich

Sepp Blatter's initial eight-year suspension was reduced to six in light of "strong mitigating factors".
Sepp Blatter's initial eight-year suspension was reduced to six in light of "strong mitigating factors".
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Sepp Blatter's initial eight-year suspension was reduced to six in light of "strong mitigating factors".

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has filed an appeal against his six-year ban from football with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Blatter and his UEFA counterpart Michel Platini were suspended by FIFA last December when the adjudicatory chamber of its Ethics Committee ruled a payment of two million Swiss francs (£1.3m) authorised by the 80-year-old Swiss to the former France captain constituted multiple infringements of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

Both men have continued to protest their innocence but the FIFA Appeal Committee upheld the Ethics Committee's findings last month, although it reduced the initial eight-year suspensions to six in light of "strong mitigating factors" – namely Blatter and Platini's long history of service in football administration.

Platini immediately declared his intention to take his appeal to the CAS, with those proceedings confirmed on March 2. Blatter has now followed suit and will similarly seek "the annulment of the decision taken by the FIFA Appeal Committee".

A statement released by the Lausanne-based body read: "Joseph S. Blatter has filed an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the decision issued by the FIFA Appeal Committee on 16 February 2016 [the date of Blatter's appeal hearing].

"In his appeal to the CAS, Mr Blatter seeks the annulment of the decision taken by the FIFA Appeal Committee in which he was suspended from all football-related activities at national and international level for six years."

Blatter was succeeded by former UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino as FIFA president at last month's elections, following a tenure spanning more than 17 years.

Outlining the process Blatter's appeal will take, the CAS statement added:  "A CAS arbitration procedure is in progress. First, the parties will exchange written submissions and a panel of three arbitrators will be constituted. The panel will then issue directions with respect to the holding of a hearing. Following the hearing, the Panel will deliberate and at a later date, it will issue a decision in the form of an Arbitral Award."

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