A FIFA appeal committee yesterday rejected a bid by longtime president Sepp Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini to overturn their 90-day suspensions while Swiss police pursue a criminal investigation, reports AFP.
The committee said it had "rejected in full" the appeals made by Blatter and Platini.
Both were suspended for 90 days on October 7 after Swiss prosecutors launched a "criminal mismanagement" inquiry against Blatter who made a one million dollar payment to Platini in 2011 for work carried out a decade earlier.
The suspension has been a severe blow to Platini's hopes of winning a FIFA presidential election in February.
The provisional ban stops Platini from working as UEFA president and halts his candidacy for the FIFA election on Feb. 26. Blatter is also barred from his FIFA presidential office.
Blatter’s American lawyer said the FIFA head was “disappointed” by the ruling, and called the lost time in publishing the ruling “inexplicable.”
Platini and Blatter will now file further appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where appellants can choose one of the three lawyers to judge their case.
Blatter and former France captain Platini were suspended after the Swiss attorney general opened criminal proceedings against Blatter, who has been Fifa president since 1998. The ethics committee also opened an inquiry into Platini over the payment.