Zurich: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini have been sent full written reasons for their eight-year bans from football, FIFA's ethics committee judges said on Saturday. Lawyers for Blatter and Platini can now use the document to file formal appeals with FIFA.
FIFA refused Platini's request last month to bypass its process and appeal directly to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. "The adjudicatory chamber of the independent ethics committee has fulfilled its commitment to provide the grounds for the respective decisions to Mr Blatter and Mr Platini within the first half of January 2016 as they had previously been informed," the judges said in a statement.
The ethics judging chamber says it "fulfilled its commitment to provide the grounds" in the first half of January.
Blatter wants to be cleared before the February 26 FIFA election Congress. Platini has given up on being a candidate to succeed his former mentor Blatter but wants to clear his name and retain his presidency of UEFA.
Blatter and Platini deny wrongdoing but were judged last month to have broken ethics rules on conflicts of interest, breach of loyalty and offering or receiving gifts.
Platini took $2 million of FIFA money in 2011 - a payment approved by Blatter as uncontracted salary for work as a presidential adviser from 1999-2002.
