Sepp Blatter, Michael Platini gearing up to appeal 8-year football suspension

Embattled FIFA president Sepp Blatter is girding his loins to appeal his football ban.

The 79-year-old is expected to make his case on Tuesday. On Monday, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) boss Michael Platini also made his appeal at a FIFA appeal hearing in Zurich, Skysports reported. Platini told reporters: “I am not fighting for my future, I am fighting against injustice.”

In December, an independent Ethics Committee suspended Blatter and Platini for eight years from all football-related activities. The decision was a result of investigations that confirmed Blatter paid out CHF2 million (£1.34 million) to Platini in February 2011, but it “had no legal basis in the written agreement signed between both officials.”

The two men said the money was payment for work that Platini had done during his stint as a technical adviser between 1998 and 2002. The payment was not part of Platini’s written contract, but both said it was a verbal agreement, which is legal under Swiss law.