FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA boss Michel Platini were suspended for eight years after an ethics committee investigation looked into financial transactions connected to the two powerful football figures.
FIFA's Ethics Committee ruled that Blatter and Platini broke the football's world governing body's code of ethics based on rules of conflicts of interest, breach of loyalty and gifts. According to the BBC, the committee looked into a payment of about $2 million that Blatter approved for Platini in back in 2011. The two had previously been provisionally suspended while the investigation was taking place.
Blatter said to the media that he will be appealing the ban and Platini also said later on Monday that he would be appealing the decision. FIFA's Ethics Committee made the announcement on Monday about the bans and said that the suspensions would begin "immediately."
The ban decision comes after FIFA had seven members arrested and others charged in May surrounding corruption and financial issues. Blatter spoke to the media on Monday and blamed the issues related to the suspension on the United States, saying: "If we had awarded the World Cup in 2022 to the USA, we would not be here."
"Neither in his written statement nor in his personal hearing was Mr. Blatter able to demonstrate another legal basis for this payment," the committee said in the released statement. "His assertion of an oral agreement was determined as not convincing and was rejected by the chamber."