FIFA President Sepp Blatter fights ban amid FIFA turmoil

Zurich FIFA president Sepp Blatter appealed against the 90 day ban that forced him out of office his lawyers confirmed Friday as world footballs sleazetainted governing body headed into months of turmoil over how to find a new leaderThe Asian Football Confederation AFC became the latest regional body to demand an emergency meeting of the FIFA executive after the suspension of Blatter UEFA president Michel Platini and FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke The row over Blatters suspension took a fresh twist on Friday as FIFAs ethics watchdog rejected the 79yearolds claims he was not allowed to give evidence before he was banned saying he was given all his rightsBlatters lawyers confirmed they had filed an official appeal and asked for further hearings with the ethics committee The New York Times earlier reported that Blatter had complained that he only found out about his suspension after it was made public But ethics committee spokesman Andreas Bantel said Blatter had been given the chance to put his case on October 1Platini hit with the same suspension on Thursday also had the very same rights at an interview on the same day Bantel said Platini also plans to appeal against his 90day suspensionThe Frenchman is a leading candidate in FIFAs presidential election in February alongside South Korean tycoon Chung MongJoon who was banned from football activities for six years in the ethics committee purge Blatter who has led FIFA since 1998 was provisionally banned by the ethics watchdog as Swiss prosecutors investigate him for criminal mismanagementThe crisis at FIFA has been building since May when US authorities announced charges against 14 officials and sports marketing executives over bribery allegations amounting to more than 150 million Asias powerful football chief Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa wrote to acting FIFA president Issa Hayatou calling for an emergency meeting of the bodys executive committeeThese are exceptional circumstances and that is why we need the meeting Only together will we overcome these difficult times Al Khalifa said according to a statement from the AFC The German and English federations have made similar callsA FIFA spokeswoman told AFP Hayatou was expected at Zurich HQ on Tuesday and would discuss the matter with committee members Some senior FIFA members have suggested the meeting could discuss postponing the election to replace Blatter currently slated for February 26Blatter a 40year veteran of FIFA is still in Zurich home of the organisations headquarters a source close to him told AFP Platini tarnished A cloud now hangs over Platini the former French captain and one of the greatest players of all time who had presented himself as the man to clean up FIFA after years of scandal and graft allegationsThe 60yearold has been named in the investigation into Blatter because of a 2 million 18 million euro payment he received in 2011 He insists the payment was legitimate and slammed the FIFA ban as farcical pledging to carry on with his bid to lead the world bodyI reject all the allegations that have been made against me he said indicating he too intended to appeal against the ban The 54member UEFA will meet at its Nyon headquarters next Thursday to discuss the crisis The suspensions handed out on Thursday can be renewed for another 45 days when they run out in January which would take the exclusion until just before the FIFA electionPlatini said he had still registered his official papers to be a candidate in the FIFA race The deadline is October 26 Further adding to the turmoil on Friday the Swiss authorities approved the extradition to the United States of Britishborn businessman Costas Takkas one of the officials whose arrest in May ignited the crisisTakkas is accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes in connection with the sale of marketing rights for 2018 and 2022 World Cup qualifiers Chung a candidate for the FIFA presidency along with Platini said Friday he would sue the world body for damaging his reputation over his ban and make a formal appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport CASThe scion of the Hyundai family was found to have contravened rules while lobbying for South Koreas bid for the 2022 World Cup which was awarded to Qatar in a controversial 2010 vote