He's been provisionally banned from office and is facing a criminal investigation by Swiss authorities, but it appears FIFA's embattled president president Sepp Blatter won't go down without a fight.
The suspension relates to an ongoing investigation by Swiss authorities believed to center on a 2005 TV rights deal between FIFA and Jack Warner, the former president of CONCACAF, the governing body of football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, as well as an alleged "disloyal payment" to Platini.
Shortly after the ban was announced on Thursday, Blatter's lawyers issued a statement which said that the ethics committee had "based its decision on a misunderstanding of the actions of the attorney general in Switzerland, which has opened an investigation but brought no charge against the president."
Blatter reportedly told German magazine Bunte earlier in the week that the Swiss criminal investigation against him was "not correct," while his lawyer's statement said Blatter looked forward to presenting "evidence that will demonstrate that he did not engage in any misconduct, criminal or otherwise."