By Andrew Warshaw
December 9 – The final verdicts into alleged ethics violations by Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini will almost certainly be handed down on December 21 or 22, potentially handing them the worst possible Christmas present.
Insideworldfootball, which first reported that the presidents of FIFA and UEFA faced lengthy bans over the infamous 2 million Swiss franc payment, has been told that the judgements will be announced in Christmas week itself following hearings set for December 16-18.
Both the FIFA president and his would-be successor deny any wrongdoing over the undeclared “disloyal payment” made to Platini in 2011 for consultancy work carried out on behalf of Blatter nine years earlier.
The file handed over by ethics investigators calls for sanctions for allegedly violating four ethics code breaches including conflict of interest and false accounting by not reporting the payment until four years ago.
Platini has already appealed against his provisional 90-day suspension in the hope of appearing at Saturday’s Euro 2016 draw in Paris and is awaiting the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) imminent ruling.
But even if the CAS rules in his favour, a further ban, likely to be around six or seven years but possibly for life, will almost certainly be slapped on the Frenchman and on Blatter who would both then be forced into further appeals to clear their respective names.
Insideworldfootball understands the file before FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert exceeds 50 pages and that Platini, whose bid for the FIFA presidency next February has been put on hold, attempted to get next week’s hearing postponed in order to try and save his career.
Sources close to the ethics process said the Frenchman was keen to buy time in order to get back in the election race provided he passes the necessary integrity check.
A source with knowledge of the ethics process said: “Judge Eckert is determined to bring this to a quick conclusion. If necessary a hearing can take place without the defendants themselves being present.”
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