FIFA's ethics tribunal said Saturday it had provided Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini with the reasons for its decision to ban them from football for eight years, clearing the way for them to appeal against the decision.
Blatter, who has headed FIFA since 1998, was also fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($50,000/46,300 euros) while Platini, the head of UEFA, Europe's governing body, was fined 80,000 Swiss francs.
At the time of the verdict, which heightened further the crisis rocking football's scandal-plagued world body, the court insisted there was "no legal basis" for the payment that Blatter authorised for Platini in 2011 .
The tribunal decision promises to end 79-year-old Blatter's four decades with FIFA in disgrace.
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