ZURICH: Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini, the former France great who had been favoured to take over as FIFA leader, were both suspended on Thursday in a deepening corruption scandal, decapitating the leadership of a sport facing criminal investigations on both sides of the Atlantic.

Blatter, the Swiss who has been FIFA president since 1998, was already due to stand down after an election to replace him in February.

Platini was a frontrunner to replace him. His shrinking election hopes now depend on whether he can overturn the 90-day ban imposed by FIFA’s Ethics Committee.

Despite their denials of wrongdoing, both men have gradually been submerged by the scandal that has engulfed the world’s most popular sport, beginning with dawn raids and a series of arrests at a Swiss luxury hotel in May.

Another presidential hopeful, Chung Mong-joon, was suspended for six years in a separate case and FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke was banned for 90 days.

While FIFA said the suspensions were “provisional”, they can be extended by up to 45 days.

“During this time, the above individuals are banned from all football activities on a national and international level,” the ethics committee said.

FIFA said in a statement: “Joseph S. Blatter, for the duration of the 90-day ban, is not allowed to represent FIFA in any capacity, act on the organisation’s behalf, or communicate to media or other stakeholders as a FIFA representative.”

Issa Hayatou, the long-time head of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) who was reprimanded in 2011 by the IOC in a FIFA kickbacks scandal, will take over as acting president.

The 69-year-old Cameroonian, who has a serious kidney illness that requires regular dialysis sessions, is currently in Yaounde and is expected to travel to Zurich immediately.

Hayatou said he would not stand for president in February but remained committed to the reform process.

“We will also continue to cooperate fully with authorities and follow the internal investigation wherever it leads,” Hayatou said in a statement.

Blatter is under investigation by Swiss prosecutors for criminal mismanagement.

The four football powerbrokers “are banned from all football activities on a national and international level. The bans come into force immediately”, a statement said.

Lawyers for Blatter said he was “disappointed” the ethics watchdog had failed to follow its own rules by not letting him give evidence.

“President Blatter looks forward to the opportunity to present evidence that will demonstrate that he did not engage in any misconduct, criminal or otherwise,” said a statement by Zurich lawyers Lorenz Erni, Erni Brun Forrer and US-based Richard Cullen.

The interim leader of UEFA will be Spanish federation head Angel Maria Villar, who remains at risk of being sanctioned from the FIFA ethics committee in its investigation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests.

Blatter and Platini have faced mounting pressure since Swiss prosecutors started their investigation on September 25.

Platini has been named in the investigation because of a two million dollar payment he received in 2011. The Frenchman has denied any wrongdoing and demanded an inquiry into the circumstances of the investigation against him.

Platini registered his candidacy Thursday for the February 26 vote to find a successor to Blatter. But it will be up to an electoral commission to decide now whether he can stand, officials said.

German Football Feder­ation Wolfgang Niersbach said Blatter should resign definitively and Platini must consider whether he “can maintain” his candidacy for FIFA.

Chung, who was also fined 100,000 Swiss francs ($100,000) would be automatically ruled out of the presidential race.

The scion of the Hyundai family was found to have contravened rules while lobbying for South Korea’s bid for the 2022 World Cup which was awarded to Qatar in a controversial 2010 vote.

Chung has threatened to take legal action over the ban.

FIFA CHAOS

If Platini is not able to overturn his ban and join the election race, it would leave Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan as the clear favourite, unless other candidates now emerge to take advantage of the Frenchman’s troubles.

South African Tokyo Sexwale, who was imprisoned with Nelson Mandela during the apartheid era and later became a politician and businessman, has said he is considering running.

The International Olympic Committee called on FIFA to consider a “credible external presidential candidate of high integrity” as Blatter’s replacement.

“Enough is enough,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. “We hope that now, finally, everyone at FIFA has at last understood that they cannot continue to remain passive.

“They must act swiftly to regain credibility because you cannot forever dissociate the credibility of FIFA from the credibility of football.”

Blatter’s suspension brings a sudden halt to a 40-year career that had survived waves of scandals until he was placed under criminal investigation.

Last month, Swiss authorities turned up at Blatter’s office at FIFA headquarters and interrogated him on allegedly misusing FIFA money by making a payment to Platini.

Blatter was also questioned by Swiss investigators about broadcasting contracts sold to former FIFA vice president Jack Warner in 2005 that were supposedly undervalued.

All those banned on Thursday can turn to FIFA’s Appeals Committee to try to overturn the bans, but would remain suspended throughout any appeals process.

There was no immediate comment from Platini although he indicated he intended to fight against the ruling shortly before his ban was announced,

“I will stop at nothing to ensure that the truth is known,” Platini said in a statement. “Nobody should be in any doubt as to my determination to achieve that objective.

“In the meantime, a dispassionate, independent and impartial judicial body needs to shine a light on the events that led the FIFA Ethics Committee to open these investigatory proceedings.”

The statement from the Ethics Committee did not give out details of any offence committed by Blatter and Platini.

FIFA’s crisis has been mounting since May when US authorities issued charges against 14 FIFA officials and sports marketing executives over more than $150 million in bribes given for broadcasting and marketing contracts.

Seven FIFA officials were detained at a Zurich hotel two days before Blatter was reelected for a fifth term on May 30.

As the storm grew, Blatter announced that he would stand down, but only when the election is held. Rivals have accused him since of seeking to cling to power.

Chung, a former FIFA vice president, was found guilty of breaches relating to the investigation into bidding for the 2022 World Cup, of which South Korea was a contender.

Valcke had already been put on leave last month after being the subject of allegations over a deal for black market sales of tickets to 2014 World Cup matches.

Valcke’s lawyer, Barry Berke, said the Frenchman was the subject of “false allegations.”

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

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