December 29 – Outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter says he fighting for his honour as he bids to clear his name in the wake of being banned for eight years by FIFA’s ethics committee.
A full and revealing interview with the German magazine Bunte is due to be published on Wednesday but in extracts released early, Blatter says he feels “abandoned” by the organisation he has led for the best part of 18 years.
Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini, also thrown out for eight years for breaches of the ethics code, are taking their respective cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which is due to rule some time next month.
“I now no longer fight for FIFA,” said Blatter. “They abandoned me. I am now only fighting for myself and my honour.”
Blatter, who staged a defiant news conference last week as he railed against those who had punished him, told Bunte he would fight the “false claims” against him. “After Christmas I will start to fight back,” he said.
The investigation by FIFA’s ethics committee began after the Swiss attorney general’s office opened criminal proceedings against Blatter, partly over the now notorious SFr2 million payment to Platini in 2011.
Although both men were found guilty of ethics violations, which they vehemently deny, corruption could not be proved. But time is running out for Platini, technically still a candidate to take over from Blatter when the veteran Swiss stands down on February 26 – but only provided he can clear his name and also pass an integrity test at least a month before the election.
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