07 January 2025 GMT: 05:34

Blatter appeals suspension as Exco members call for emergency meeting

Sepp Blatter8

By Andrew Warshaw
October 9 – Sepp Blatter has become the first of football’s suspended powerbrokers to officially appeal against his 90-day sanction imposed Thursday by FIFA’s ethics committee.

The appeal was submitted to the FIFA appeals committee within hours of the beleaguered FIFA president being sanctioned on what was the most momentous and explosive day of the entire corruption scandal. His associate and adviser Klaus Stohkler confirmed: “He has appealed already to FIFA’s appeal committee. He is defending his position and he is sure that he will be found not guilty.”

According to the New York Times, which says it has a copy of the appeal, Blatter claims he received unfair treatment while his legal team has demanded to see the ethics committee’s case file. They are arguing FIFA should presume Blatter’s innocence, especially given the possibility of the Swiss criminal investigation into his activities ultimately being dropped.

The spotlight will now fall on Larry Mussenden, the Bermudan head of FIFA’s appeals committee who will need to decide how quickly to hold a meeting and which of the committee’s 14 members should hear the case. Under the rules, there has to be a minimum of three. Mussenden will also be under pressure to display no bias and make a ruling based purely on legalities and facts.

In the immediate aftermath of his provisional suspension, Blatter’s lawyers had said in a statement that he was looking forward to presenting evidence that will prove his innocence.

Technically, once the 90 days are completed – plus 45 more at the discretion of the ethics committee – Blatter could return to power just in time to take charge of the February 26 election to replace him as FIFA president. But only if he won an appeal or the ethics committee somehow decided to take no further action against him once they have completed their inquiries. Whether UEFA president Michel Platini, who has long been favourite to take over, will be eligible remains to be seen after he, too, received the same sanction as Blatter over that notorious SFr2 million payment made to him by FIFA for work apparently completed nine years previously.

FIFA’s website has updated its president’s page with a short biography of interim president Issa Hayatou which, not surprisingly, fails to include the allegations of corruption that have dogged him for several years.

In the meantime, prominent FIFA officials including Asian Football Confederation President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and US soccer boss Sunil Gulati have called for an emergency executive committee meeting – just like UEFA have done – to discuss the way forward.

“These are exceptional circumstances and that is why we need the meeting,” said Salman in a letter to Hayatou and other fellow exco members.

As for UEFA, having initially refused to comply with Platini’s suspension out of loyalty to the Frenchman, European football’s governing body were forced into changing their stance, putting out a statement saying he will “not perform his official duties for the time being…and has cancelled several official trips.”

It is understood that UEFA would itself have otherwise been in breach of the ethics code, with any flaunting of the ban risking further sanctions.

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