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FIFA: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini get eight-year bans
FIFA President Sepp Blatter and UEFA boss Michel Platini, the two most powerful men in world soccer, have been suspended for eight years from all football-related activities for ethics violations, FIFA said on its website. The pair, who were also fined, had been suspended in October while an investigation was carried out into a 2 million Swiss franc ($2.02 million) payment that soccer's global governing body made to European boss Platini in 2011, with Blatter's approval, for work done 10 years earlier. The FIFA ethics committee found Blatter and Platini had demonstrated an "abusive execution" of their positions. Both men immediately denied any wrongdoing and said they would appeal to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.
