Joseph Blatter, the suspended president of world football governing body FIFA, deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for bringing countries together through the sport, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.
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“That is someone who should be given the Nobel Peace Prize”, Putin said of the FIFA boss who is facing corruption allegations over his management of the world football body. “His contribution to the global humanitarian field is enormous”.
Acting FIFA president Issa Hayatou and acting secretary general Markus Kattner issued an open letter which noted that “there may be further challenges ahead”.
Blatter is also the focus of a corruption probe led by Swiss prosecutors.
Blatter arrived at the hearing with a bandage on his face, his spokesman Thomas Renggli explaining that he had undergone a minor procedure to treat a skin problem on his cheek.
The 79-year-old is under criminal investigation in Switzerland over questionable payments worth 1.8 million euros ($2 million) made to Platini in 2011.
“It must be said that he (Blatter) was the one who pushed it through Congress”, Pieth, a Swiss professor of law, said in a telephone interview.
Suspicions were raised as Platini was not paid until 2011, with Blatter also accused of signing an “unfavourable” contract with the Carribbean Football Union.
Both Blatter and Platini deny wrongdoing.
As Galli told the Swiss News Agency, a “high double-digit million amount” had been frozen following the USA query.
Blatter, who is the target of an ongoing FBI corruption investigation centered on the organisation’s decision to hand the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russian Federation and Qatar, respectively, is now suspended from his duties.
The agreement was “a classic conflict of interest” between two Federation Internationale de Football Association executive committee members, Federation Internationale de Football Association audit panel chairman Domenico Scala told The Associated Press in a recent interview.
FIFA’s ethics judges have dismissed Platini’s claims of a pre-determined verdict and pledged to review the evidence against him fairly.
Apart from his backing from Putin, Blatter was named “Swiss of the Year” by right-wing magazine Die Weltwoche in his home country.
Blatter suggested in a separate interview with Liberation, the French daily, that he faces two sanction options: Life ban or a two-year ban plus a fine of 160,000 Swiss francs ($161, 000).
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Representatives for Platini, 60, say he will not attend Friday’s hearing in person in order to express “his deepest indignation” with the entire process.
