Information came in thick and fast about the fate of FIFA President Sepp Blatter today due to his involvement in a Swiss criminal investigation involving alleged bribery. Some said he was suspended, others said he wasn’t. Now it seems like we have the actual answer to what happened to Blatter today and potential to what can happen to him tomorrow.
According to Richard Conway of the BBC, FIFA’s Ethics Committee is recommending a 90 day suspension for Sepp Blatter. While the Ethics Committee can recommend this, that doesn’t mean Blatter is suspended. A ruling will be reportedly made tomorrow regarding Blatter’s suspension.
Very confusing picture from Zurich. Final decision on Blatter due tomorrow from Judge Eckhert. Recommendation is for 90 day suspension.
— Richard Conway (@richard_conway) October 7, 2015
According to Andrew Das of the New York Times, Blatter’s proposed suspension seems to be about halfway complete, if it actually gets there.
Re: Blatter. Investigatory arm of ethic comm can recommend suspension, but adjudicatory has to aprrove it. Sounding like only halfway.
— Andrew Das (@AndrewDasNYT) October 7, 2015
It’s important to note that if Blatter is suspended tomorrow for the 90 days, he will be back in power on January 5 meaning he will be back in power for a little less than two months until the FIFA Presidential election in February. Why doesn’t FIFA just suspend Blatter indefinitely? That would involve trying to figure out the convoluted mind that is FIFA and that would require a team of the world’s best psychologists to dissect that lot.
While this somewhat explains Blatter, UEFA President Michel Platini hasn’t even been touched with possible suspension, at least for today. It’s important to note that if Platini is suspended, he cannot run for FIFA President because it would violate the integrity check needed to run in February. So while Blatter may learn some of his fate tomorrow, Platini’s fate is still an unknown. We will update on this story as necessary in the coming days.