Fifa: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini get eight-year bans

Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Uefa boss Michel Platini have been suspended for eight years from all football-related activities following an ethics investigation.

They were found guilty of breaches surrounding a £1.3m ($2m) "disloyal payment" made to Platini in 2011.

The Fifa ethics committee found Blatter and Platini had demonstrated an "abusive execution" of their

positions.

"I will fight for me and for Fifa," Blatter, 79, said at a news conference.

The bans come into force immediately.

Swiss Blatter and 60-year-old Frenchman Platini have also been fined £33,700 ($40,000) and £54,000 ($80,000) respectively.

Both men continue to deny wrongdoing and a spokesman for Blatter confirmed he will appeal against the ban and is prepared to take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) in Lausanne.

Platini is expected to do the same.

Fifa boss since 1998, Blatter had already announced he was quitting with a presidential election in February.

Platini was tipped as a future leader of football's world governing body and is a three-time European Footballer of the Year.

He is also a former captain of France and has been in charge of Uefa - European football's governing body - since 2007.

Why are they banned?

Blatter and Platini were found guilty of ethics code breaches over the "disloyal payment".

Both claimed the payment was honouring an agreement made in 1998 for work carried out between 1998 and 2002 when Platini worked as a technical adviser for Blatter.

The payment was not part of Platini's written contract but the pair insisted it was a verbal agreement, which is legal under Swiss law.

German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, the chairman of Fifa's adjudicatory chamber, held disciplinary hearings for the pair last week.

Charges included conflict of interest, false accounting and non co-operation, with investigators submitting a file of more than 50 pages.

Statement - key points

• The payment made in February 2011 had "no legal basis" in the contract signed by both men when Platini started working for Blatter on 25 August, 1999.
• Both men's explanation that there was an "oral agreement" over the payment was rejected as "not convincing".
• Blatter's actions did not show "commitment to an ethical attitude", and both men were found to be in "a conflict of interest".
• Platini also failed to act with "complete credibility and integrity" and showed "unawareness of the importance of his duties".
• The committee said there was "not sufficient evidence" to establish the payment was a bribe, but both men demonstrated an "abusive execution" of their positions.

Source: BBC