Blatter faces 90 day suspension from FIFA, According to a confidant

By Simon Evans

ZURICH (Reuters) – FIFA president Sepp Blatter faces a 90 day suspension from football if the governing body’s ethics judge backs a prosecutor’s recommendation, a close friend and former advisor to Blatter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Blatter’s long-term confidant Klaus Stoehlker said the decision by judge Hans-Joachim Eckert on the provisional suspension was expected by Friday.

“There is no final decision, this is a recommendation from the lower part of the Ethics Committee to the upper part,” said Stoehlker, who added that Blatter had been informed of the development.

“President Blatter will be in his office at FIFA tomorrow,” he said.

A FIFA spokesperson directed inquiries to Blatter’s U.S lawyers who did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for Eckert declined to comment. A spokesman for the Investigatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee was not immediately available for comment.

Swiss prosecutors last month opened a criminal investigation into Blatter over a Caribbean World Cup TV rights contract he signed, and a 2011 payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.1 million) to Platini, whose status the Swiss attorney general has described as being between a witness and an accused person.

Both have denied any wrongdoing.

Media reports have suggested that Platini is also being investigated by the Ethics Committee.

Bound by confidentiality rules, FIFA’s Ethics Committee have not commented on whether Platini is under investigation.

Platini’s spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting By Simon Evans; Editing by Ossian Shine)