FIFA extends Blatter, Valcke’s bans by almost seven years

WORLD football governing body FIFA has said extended the ban on former President Sepp Blatter and former secretary-general Jerome Valcke by six years and eight months.

FIFA announced the extension of the bans on Wednesday, which were related to both men receiving huge illegal bonuses.

“The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee has found Mr Joseph S. Blatter, former FIFA President, and Mr Jérôme Valcke, former FIFA Secretary General, guilty of various violations of the FIFA Code of Ethics (FCE),” FIFA stated on Wednesday.

“The investigations into Messrs Blatter and Valcke covered various charges, in particular concerning bonus payments in relation to FIFA competitions that were paid to top FIFA management officials, various amendments and extensions of employment contracts, as well as reimbursement by FIFA of private legal costs in the case of Mr Valcke.”

Blatter, 85, allegedly received 23 million Swiss francs ($24.6 million) in “extraordinary bonuses” linked to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and the 2013 Confederations Cup tournament in Brazil.

Frenchman Valcke, 60, was Blatter’s right-hand man during the Switzerland national’s 17-year reign.

He was said to have received 30 million Swiss francs over the same period.

FIFA explained that Blatter and Valcke had broken rules in FIFA’s Code of Ethics including ‘conflict of interest’, ‘offering and accepting gifts or other benefits’ and ‘abuse of position’.

“Consequently, Messrs Blatter and Valcke have both been sanctioned with bans from all football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level for a period of six years and eight months. In addition, fines to the amount of CHF 1,000,000 have been imposed on both Messrs Blatter and Valcke,” FIFA added in the statement.

“The motivated decisions were notified to Messrs Blatter and Valcke today, and have also been published on legal.fifa.com. As the previous bans from taking part in all football-related activity imposed on Messrs Blatter and Valcke by the independent Ethics Committee in 2015 and 2016 have not yet been purged, the bans notified today will only come into force upon the expiry of the previous bans (i.e. on 8 October 2021 and 8 October 2025, respectively).”

In essence Blatter remains banned from all football until at least early 2028, while Valcke is out until early 2032.