Secretary general Jerome Valcke and UEFA chief Michel Platini were also hit with provisional bans.
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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.
Blatter has lodged an appeal, his lawyers said Friday, and has asked for the ethics committee to release the reasons for the suspension.
Once the clear favourite to succeed his long-time ally Blatter, the former France captain has been tarnished by his association with the veteran Swiss.
In addition, UEFA president Michel Platini saw his ambitions of succeeding Blatter end after receiving an identical sanction.
Here is the low-down on FIFA’s year of shame.
But ethics committee spokesman Andreas Bantel said Blatter had been given the chance to put his case on October 1.
Blatter and UEFA president Platini have already signalled their intention to appeal the verdicts handed out by FIFA’s Ethics Committee.
Presidential contenders have to submit their candidacies by October. 26 to the Federation Internationale de Football Association ethics panel, which will assess whether they pass integrity checks.
Gill, who elected against taking up a role as vice-president if Blatter were to remain in charge, has contacted Fifa’s acting secretary general Markus Kattner in regards to an emergency meeting, while talks have also begun with acting Fifa president Issa Hayatou, who is also the head of African football.
UEFA’s 54 member associations will convene next Thursday in Nyon to discuss the crisis, and there is expected to be an emergency FIFA executive committee meeting in Zurich the following week.
It is thought delaying the election could benefit Mr Platini, who filed his nomination papers for the presidency just hours before he was suspended.
However, time will have to tell regardless there is aid for a rendezvous plus an alternative into the election meeting.
Critics in Zambia accuse Kalusha for insisting on hanging on to power when his three terms in the FAZ executive expires in March 2016 for fear of the financial mismanagement under his tenure being exposed which may open him to further potential criminal investigations. While another presidential candidate, Chung Mong-Joon, is now banned from the sport.
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The downfall of FIFA’s head honchos (if it actually comes to fruition) likely began when four of the governing body’s high-profile sponsors – Visa, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Budweiser – issued statements last Friday calling for Blatter to resign. He had been attending meetings of visiting football officials and planning for the election and the 2018 World Cup, but crucially, he had not been engaged in any of the legal or ethics discussions inside FIFA, two sources said.
