Fifa top brass Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini and Jerome Valcke suspended vindicating sponsor pressure
Fifa has suspended its top three figures from office for a period of 90 days while the body’s ethics committee investigates their practises amid corruption allegations.
President Sepp Blatter, secretary general Jerome Valcke and vice-president Michel Platini are banned from participating in their roles at the top of Fifa during the investigation.
The under pressure world football body made the announcement this morning stating that the immediate bans could be extended by no more than 45 days – meaning the figures could return to the top spots in the sport.
Blatter in particular, on the end of a sustained period of criticism from fans of the sport and sponsors including Budweiser, Visa, McDonald's and Coca-Cola is one step closer to ending his 17-year reign as president.
The divisive head of Fifa has endured waves of criticism and the body's ethical malpractise, earlier this year famously resigning then unresigning - dening making such a move.
The adjudicatory chamber of Fifa's Ethics Committee chaired by Hans Joachim Eckert, released a statement providing almost no detail on the reasoning behind the suspensions.
In a move utterly opposing the transparency demanded by sponsors (likely to avoid an impending legal maelstrom), Fifa instead said “The Ethics Committee is unable to comment on the details of the decisions until they become final, due to the provisions of article 36 (Confidentiality) of the Fifa Code of Ethics”.
The statement did however report that South Korean football official Chung Mong-joon was guilty of General rules of conduct, Confidentiality, Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting, Obligation of the parties to collaborate and General obligation to collaborate during the bidding process of the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cups.
As a result he has been banned from football for six years and fined 100,000 Swiss Francs (£67,414).