Updated 12:30
SEPP BLATTER HAS said he “was sorry for FIFA”, which has been engulfed in an unprecedented corruption scandal, including waves of criminal indictments targeting top officials by the United States justice department.
There is also an ongoing criminal investigation by the Swiss attorney general, of which Blatter is the main target.
“As president of FIFA, I am this punching ball,” added Blatter, who led world football’s governing body for 17 years before his suspension.
Blatter also said he will appeal against today’s ruling by FIFA’s ethics court banning him from football for eight years, claiming he was “betrayed” by judges who ignored evidence.
Speaking in Zurich, symbolically at the site of FIFA’s former headquarters, Blatter said he would first take his case to a FIFA appeals committee before challenging his suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
“You ask me if I feel betrayed … the answer is yes.”
Blatter voiced confidence in the appeals process and said he was still holding out hope that he could again be in charge in time for a FIFA congress set for February, when his replacement will be chosen.
FIFA judges banned the long-serving president Blatter and his one-time heir apparent Michel Platini over a two million Swiss franc (€1.8m) payment that Blatter authorised to Platini in 2011, reportedly for consulting work done a decade earlier.
Both men insisted the payment was legitimate as part of an oral contract and Platini has also confirmed he will appeal the ban.
Blatter said he was “astonished” that judges rejected evidence concerning the existence of an oral contract.
Speaking in English, he added that the ethics committee “deny an evidence and they try to build something up which is not true… Something that is not true cannot be proven”.
According to a statement released by the FIFA Ethics Committee this morning, this constituted a breach of article 20, paragraph one of the FIFA Code of Ethics; offering and accepting gifts and other benefits.
As a result, it was ruled that Blatter failed to respect FIFA’s regulations and he was banned from all football-related activities for eight years and fined 50,000 Swiss francs. Platini, for his part, has been fined 80,000 Swiss francs.
Blatter, 79, and Platini, 60, were suspended after Swiss prosecutors started a criminal investigation into the cash transfer in 2011.
The bans for both men could well spell the end of their careers in football administration and brings an inglorious end to Blatter’s 17-year reign over world football.
Platini’s ban deals a fatal blow to the European football chief’s hopes of taking over as head of FIFA when the election is held on February 26.
It brings to an end a turbulent year for world football following numerous bribery scandals.
Although we certainly haven’t heard the last of this yet.
Additional reporting by AFP
