Outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter and present UEFA President Michel Platini have been handed an eight-year ban from all football related activities with an immediate effect. This has been announced by the adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee chaired by Hans Joachim Eckert on Monday.
Blatter has also been fined CHF 50,000 (£33,712), according to the ruling, while Platini has been fined CHF 80,000 (£53,944). The hopes of the UEFA president to succeed Blatter as the FIFA President early next year also comes to an end now.
The duo were found guilty of breaching the ethics code of the world football governing body surrounding a £1.3m ($1.94m) "disloyal payment". Blatter had made the payment to the former French footballer in 2011.
"The proceedings against Mr Michel Platini primarily related to a payment of CHF 2,000,000 (£1.34m) that he received in February 2011 from FIFA," the statement from the FIFA Independent Ethics Committee, said.
"The payment to Mr Platini had no legal basis in the written agreement signed between both officials on 25 August 1999. Mr Platini's assertion of an oral agreement was determined as not convincing and was rejected by the chamber."
